Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Our lives are like this because of Omega.”

Omega swallows and adjusts the ascension cable around her shoulder as she jogs to the abandoned cargo pod. She tries not to think about it, but Echo’s right. Everything that has happened to her brothers; from Crosshair leaving them to living through the destruction of Kamino, is because of her. 

None of this would have happened if she hadn’t stupidly asked Hunter if she could join them on that mission to Onderon. None of it. If she had just left it alone, they would have realised something was wrong and vanished, and Crosshair would still be with them. 

She shakes her head. Everything Crosshair’s done is on her too. She’s responsible for his return to Kamino and ultimately joining the Empire. She knows better than anyone how the chips work; he must have gotten his enhanced when the regs took him. It explained why he was intent on hunting them.

If her brothers had vanished, they would have found out about the chips eventually. They could have fixed Crosshair and none of this would be happening. 

It’s all her fault. 

And, really, isn't that how this works? It's always her fault. She was born with the defect of being female. So what happens? Nala Se lies to Jango; lies to Alpha, and locks Omega away in her lab. Subjects her to countless experiments to try and figure out why their perfect genetic copy is defective. 

They never did find an answer. But it meant that Omega never had a life. Never even got to step foot outside Nala Se's lab until the Clone War had ended. And, sure, there had been one bright moment when she wasn't alone; when the only successes of Initiative 99 were with her, but that only lasted days. The rest of the time-

‘Omega, help me!’

‘It burns!’

She sniffs and wipes her eyes with her free hand. She’s tried not to think about the failures of Initiative 99. It hurts too much. 

‘Help!’

But those four successes went on to become her family. Something she started doing after Kamino was sarcastically calling Hunter ‘Dad’. Usually after he gives her an order. Never in a life-threatening situation, but if he tells her to stay as backup or to go ahead as a scout, she’d salute and go ‘copy that, dad.’ 

She loves it. And she thinks Hunter does too; he’s been giving her more orders recently. More chances for her to call him that. 

It’s a joke, but…it also feels real. Hunter’s not her dad; she never even had one. She was supposed to, but that didn’t work out. But the way Hunter cares for her…it feels like what dads do. 

And the blooming smile on Hunter’s face when he thinks she isn’t looking helps. 

But then if Hunter’s her dad, that makes the squad her family. A family she ruined. She knows what that feels like. Omega's whole life got thrown away and she's just done that to the only beings she could ever consider her family. 

A few tears spring to her eyes and she angrily wipes them away. They gave up everything because of her. Was it worth it? 

Omega doesn’t think so. 

They're Clone Force 99; the best of the best. No other squad had ever come close to even touching their record. She... she was just a failed experiment. Not even worth considering a clone. She... she was nothing. For as much as Hunter might think of her as his daughter, she’s not. No matter what she wants, that will never be true. 

She can’t make it right; not really. No matter what she does, there’s no atoning for destroying their lives. And now their squad is splintered; Hunter and Wrecker who knows where and Tech down with a broken leg. Because of her.

She can’t make it right. All she can do is try and finish the mission. 

She wraps the ascension cable around a nearby tree and tosses it down the cliff face. If he were here, Hunter would spout something about how this mission isn’t worth her life; but that’s not true. There are probably millions of credits down there, and she’s just a defective clone from Kamino. She’s just C-02. They’re the ones who deserve a life. 

The mission was to recover Count Dooku’s war chest. And even though the squad is currently fractured; even though Tech’s down with a broken leg, Omega has to do this. 

As she rappels down the cliff, that thought resonates with her. This has to get done. Hunter’s probably right; this is probably not worth the risk, but it is to her. 

It’s been six months since Kamino. It’s been ten months since she met the squad. And in all that time, all she’s ever done is fail. This is her chance. This is her chance to do something good. She can make up for all the times she’s gotten captured, or gotten the members of her family shot. …really only happened once, but that was one time too many. Hunter almost died. 

As her boots touch metal, the cargo pod shifts slightly and Omega’s eyes widen. This is risky; she’s all too well aware of that. A thousand things can go wrong; a thousand different ways her life can easily end if this goes south.

But she has to do this. 

And, really, if this mission kills her? She’s fine with that.

Echo’s words keep rattling through her head: “Our lives are like this because of Omega.” Sure, he went on to talk about how they were right to take her off Kamino, but the simple fact is; he’s right. Omega’s ruined everything. She’s known that for some time, but to hear it said so plainly is…

She has to make this right. 

The war chest is in the open. The Empire hasn’t gotten to it yet. Omega has one chance to do this. One chance to try and begin to make things right with her family. As she begins to fill her pack, that thought sticks with her. This is the only way.

The pod shifts again; this time a more significant one that launches her half-full pack off the crate it’s on. Omega gasps as it falls off the crate and cautiously peers over the edge - and she sighs with relief as she spies it on a lower ledge.

It’s okay. She can still do this.

Taking a quick glance at the open door of the cargo pod, Omega carefully slips off the crate, dropping down as lightly as she can. 

Not lightly enough.

The instant her boots hit the ledge, the pod shifts even more, this time sending her off the ledge and down towards the bottom of the pod. Omega gasps as her back hits the metal wall, and cringes as boxes and crates begin tumbling toward her.

She doesn’t want to end up like Tech.

Omega rolls and wedges herself between two large crates; hopefully large enough to protect her from boxes landing on her. She’s so focused on not being crushed, she doesn’t even focus on the fact that the cargo pod is now actively tumbling down the cliff. Or on the fact that, if she dies, they get none of the treasure. 

Maybe this wasn’t a great idea.

Her crate protection shifts and bounces with the crate, and Omega screams out in pain as searing heat courses through her right arm. Almost unable to focus because of how agonising it is, a dim part of her is aware that her arm is now caught between the two crates, and now she is in a far worse position to be completely crushed. 

There’s an irony she would appreciate if she was able to. So much for her ‘crate protection’ idea.

The cargo pod finally stops bouncing but she still can’t move. Her arm is pinned between two crates that she’s pretty sure weigh more than she does. They’re still on radio silence; she can’t let the others know where she is.

Maybe this situation supersedes the protocol, but she got herself into this mess. She can get herself out of it. She just has to lift this extremely heavy box with zero leverage and a probably broken arm.

Simple. 

She pulls and the heat intensifies, letting her know that it’s a bad idea and never do that again. Squeezing her eyes shut against the pain, Omega ignores that warning and pulls again with all her might, unable to hold back a scream when something tears.

She can’t move. She can’t move. The pain is so great, she can’t move. She can barely think, but now her body has betrayed her. Now she can’t even move; no way she can get her arm free.

She’s finally able to blearily open her eyes, dimly watching a trail of red travel away from her right shoulder and down towards her body. Great idea. Now she’s gonna bleed to death. Gonna be an even bigger burden on the squad.

She can’t even activate her comlink…

The world grows…muzzy, and Omega rests her head against the metal floor. Some part of her is well aware that, if she goes to sleep, she isn’t going to wake up, but the rest of her is tired. Tired of being a burden; tired of being C-02. Tired of the constant throbbing pain that is her right arm. 

She could sleep. It’d be so easy. Just close her eyes. Let the bad memories fade. 

It’s so very tempting, but then that soft look on Hunter’s face; the one he sometimes wears while talking to her about something, convinces her to stay awake. Convinces her to at least try. He managed to survive falling down a cliff; she can do this. 

Hopefully. 

She knows that she’s losing too much blood, and that it’s only a matter of time; minutes, really, before she dies. She knows it. Can’t do anything about it, but she’s aware of the problem. So she’ll just sit here and…wait, she guesses. Not like she can do anything else. 

But sleep though…

The sudden roar of a ship breaks through her deliberation, and for a moment, she’s relieved. They found her. That’s the Marauder coming to get her, and she’s saved. After almost dying. 

Puts some things in perspective. Hunter’s been asking her recently about what her life was on Kamino. Omega’s blocked that conversation at every turn, not wanting to relive any of it. Especially not those dead bodies of CT-99 cadets that died in front of her or in her arms as she tried desperately to save them. 

She’s never wanted to talk about it, but…she nearly died today. Maybe she can at least start.

“Contact the commander. Tell him we got eyes on another crate.”

That’s not Hunter’s voice.

No. No no no. nonononononononono

That’s a reg’s voice. And she can tell Echo apart from a reg very easily now. It’s not her squad.

The Empire’s found her.

The world darkens, and this time Omega can’t try to stop herself from falling asleep.

. . . . . . . . . . 

A sharp, throbbing pain greets her as she slowly regains consciousness, Right. Her arm. Somehow, that’s not as big a worry as it once was, and as she begins to wake up, she notes other things.

The roar of engines. Sounds like LAAT engines. Probably the Empire. Cool.

She can feel eyes on her. Probably regs with blasters trained on her. More cool.

And given the way her thoughts were thoughting, she’s probably on some kind of painkiller. She probably should be freaking out over being captured by the Empire or nearly losing her arm. 

Probably. Just like she should be panicking about…something. Whatever this drug is, it’s great. Numbs the pain and her thoughts. 

But…she needs to…Hunter…

She needs to think! Right now!

But instead of that, the drugs just lull her back to sleep, and she’s not even able to think about fighting it.

Chapter Text

Something’s wrong.

He has no reason to feel this way. They’re back on the Marauder, about to pick up the others, and they have a location on a single crate of the war chest that Wrecker managed to free. They’ll grab it after picking up the rest of the squad. 

Everything’s fine. But it doesn’t feel that way.

Hunter’s not sure what this feeling is or why it’s so strong, but something feels wrong. Something different to all the different ways they could have died during this mission. They’re still on blackout protocol, but he’s sure something’s gone wrong.

And now he’s scared for Omega.

He should have altered the teams so Omega stayed with him. She had been acting weird ever since they arrived on Serenno, but he hadn’t wanted to push the issue while the op was going on. 

He knew this mission was a bad idea. He should have just refused or found a different mission for them. Back in the beginning, he had baulked at bringing Omega to a Separatist planet; what was he thinking bringing her to the homeworld of Count Dooku? Why had he risked that? For a few million credits?

What good is that if she’s gone?

Sure, he doesn’t know this is about Omega, but something inside him is sure. Something inside him knows.

He had wanted this to be their last mission. Get enough credits to hide for however long they can; give the kid a chance to have a normal life. A life that isn’t defined by missions or battles. 

He’s tried to shelter Omega as best he can. Put her with him or Wrecker on missions as shields, or just have her hang back altogether. As far as Hunter knows, Omega’s never killed someone, but if they keep going like this, it’s only a matter of time. 

There’s still Crosshair to deal with, but he had to prioritise. He had wanted to get Omega safe before going after his brother. That and, after Kamino, Crosshair just vanished. They returned twice to the ruins of Tipoca City and that platform, but he wasn’t there. 

Their best guess is he’s back with the Empire. But there’s been no sign of him. 

Crosshair had wanted Omega to be safe too. When that trooper found Omega, his orders was for Omega to be taken off-world. Away from Kamino. After all this time, Hunter’s still not sure what Kamino was like for Omega, but he’s willing to bet it was bad. 

Crosshair had wanted to get her away from that. 

He had wanted to get Omega safe before going after Crosshair. But after arriving at the other group’s location, he’s not sure they could accomplish either. 

The cargo pod has fallen and there’s already a squad of regs approaching it. Tech and some civie are firing back at regs advancing on their position, but Echo…Echo’s kneeling over the edge of the cliff, staring down at the fallen pod. Even from this distance, Hunter can read something like horror in his posture. 

There’s no sign of Omega. If this was six months ago, he’d think she was in a safe location, but she’s grown considerably since then, and she’d absolutely be in the thick of the firefight if she could. The fact that she’s not here…

Something in his gut tightens.

She’s in trouble; he’s sure of it. And based on how Echo’s staring at that cargo pod, he has a horrible feeling where she is.

“Wrecker!” Hunter stands up from the pilot’s chair and moves out of the cockpit, letting his younger brother pass. “Take the controls!”

Wrecker shouts something back but Hunter isn’t listening. The ramp slowly begins to lower and he leaps out as soon as he can, rolling to a stop next to Tech. There’s too many regs between him and Echo; he’ll have to fight. 

Hunter pulls out his pistol. “Get to the Marauder!” He begins firing stun blasts that take out two regs. More are taking their place, so he goes for the mini repeating blaster and begins laying down cover fire. 

Tech and the civie are gone, and Hunter wonders about that man for a moment. But the sound of a speeder draws his attention, and he briefly looks away to see the civie driving away. 

Honestly, that’s the best call. They don’t know him; he could just be a liability. Better he lives to survive another day than die with them. 

“Hunter, I am at the ship!” Tech sounds in pain. Hunter had seen him limping; what had happened on the mission. “I will attempt to draw away their air support.”

“Hunter!” Wrecker’s voice comes from behind him. “I’ll cover you; get to Echo!”

Hunter nods and begins backing up as Wrecker’s blaster bolts begin streaking over his shoulders. He uses cover to hide himself and, slowly, the regs begin focusing on Wrecker. 

That’s his window. 

Hunter moves as quickly as he dares to where Echo is still kneeling at the cliff edge, and Hunter’s heart is in his throat as he thinks this through. Where is she?

She’s not here.

“Echo!” Hunter kneels next to him and grabs his shoulder. “Where’s Omega!”

Echo doesn’t answer immediately, and that confirms for him that this bad feeling is about her. After a long moment, Echo turns to look at him. “She was in the pod when it fell.”

No. No no no no no. Forgetting the regs advancing on them or that LAAT in the sky, Hunter joins Echo in kneeling over the cliff, staring desperately at the pod; trying to find any sign that Omega’s alive. 

“Hunter!” Tech’s voice is barely audible between all the blood pounding in his ears. Something grabs his shoulder and he tries to shake it off; tries to keep looking. She has to be alive. She has to be alive.

She has to be. 

Now something fully picks him up, and Hunter struggles against Wrecker’s hold, striving to get free; striving to find her. 

She can’t be gone.

Hunter tries to break free from Wrecker, not caring that there’s too many regs here or that their cover is falling apart. He doesn’t care if he dies, so long as he saves Omega. Nothing else matters. 

But Wrecker’s hold is too strong and he’s dragged towards the ship.

Echo provides cover fire as they all get on the Marauder , and the instant Wrecker lets go of him, Hunter runs for the ramp, reaching it right as it seals. 

‘No! We have to go back for him!’

‘Hunter, tell them to come back! Order them to come back!’

Now he knows exactly how Omega felt when he fell on Daro, but the difference here is that he lived. He had commando armour; the kid has none of that. If she fell…

Hunter looks desperately at Echo, who’s holding on to his shoulder with all his might. He and Wrecker are keeping him from going back down there. “We can’t leave her!”

There’s a despondent slouch to Echo’s shoulders that tells Hunter everything. Echo already thought of Omega as dead. He’s seen enough regs fall during the War to know the odds of her surviving, and he’ll be shoving those feelings down like ARC Training teaches cadets. 

Hunter doesn’t have ARC Training, and he can’t just let go of Omega. He slams a fist onto the ramp, ignoring the pain in his hand. “Open the door!”

The ship shakes as blaster fire - probably from V-wings - hits them, but Hunter doesn’t care. That’s Omega! They can’t just leave her here. They can’t!

The Marauder pulls away and he very nearly draws his knife. They had pried the door open to save Omega on Kamino, is the ramp that much different? But they’re too high up before he even has a chance, and…

And.

His knees buckle and Hunter falls to the floor, not sure what he’s feeling. He’s seen other CT-99’s fall; he knows what this feeling is supposed to be. But it’s…so much more intense here. It’s like something inside of him is being torn apart a hundred times over. He draws his knees up to his chest and rests his head on them, squeezing the handle of his knife. 

There’s a heavy silence on the ship before Echo finally speaks. “Tech… take us back to Ord Mantell.”

“What?” Hunter raises his head and glares at Echo. “No! We have to go back for her!”

“Our deflector shields are compromised and our right engine is damaged,” Tech reports. He sounds normal, but Hunter can hear the pain, both physical and emotional, he’s trying to filter out. “If we return to Serenno, we won’t come back.”

‘Omega belongs with us!’

‘Living among fugitives where she’s in constant danger? You want to protect the kid? Then let her go!’

Crosshair was right. And because he didn’t listen, Omega is-

‘Stop pretending to be something you’re not, Hunter.’

Omega is-

“Then let me go.” Hunter stands because he can’t do anything else. He certainly can’t just sit and there and think about how- 

They have jump jets for HALO insertions or missions where they can’t land the Marauder. He can jet down to the pod and find her. 

He’ll-

“Hunter.” Echo’s hand lands on his shoulder again. “She’s…she’s gone.”

His anger snaps and Hunter pushes Echo back hard. The reg’s back hits the hull of the ship and Hunter balls his fists. “Shut up.”

“She wouldn’t want you to-”

Hunter storms towards Echo, who shifts slightly, his own fist balled. The rational part of Hunter that’s shrinking by the second knows that, even with one hand, Echo could still take him out. He’s not ARC for nothing. 

Hunter stops a few inches from Echo, who raises his chin slightly. “Getting yourself killed isn’t going to help anything.” Echo sighs and for a brief moment, Hunter’s able to see the despair wash over his face before it vanishes again. “You know that.”

But leaving means abandoning Omega. 

‘Let’s go get Hunter.’

There was a night a few weeks after Kamino where Hunter couldn’t sleep. So he went through Tech’s files on those days he was missing. Mainly the files that featured Omega. And in nearly all of them, she’s talking about going back to rescue him. 

She spent days preparing to go save him, and he’s just leaving her the first chance he gets. 

Hunter backs away from Echo as the Marauder jumps to hyperspace, and he slowly sinks back to the floor. The finality seems to crush him. Omega isn’t here. She’s…she’s dead.

She’s gone. She’s gone, and he killed her. He should have…should have just left her on Kamino. Because of his actions, Kamino was destroyed. If he had never taken Omega off Tipoca City; if he had just vanished, Kamino wouldn’t have fallen and Omega would be alive right now. 

‘Hunter, I need you!’

He killed her.

That breaks him and Hunter crumples, not even caring that the others can see him. When Sneak, Strike, and all the other CT-99s had died; whether that was in training simulations or simply because their mutations were too much, Hunter hadn’t cried. Even as a kid, watching the only clones he would ever consider his brothers die one-by-one, he hadn’t cried. 

He cries now.

Why can’t I go?

Because I said so.

Who made you my dad?

That joke between them; how Omega would call him dad with heavy sass and an eyeroll, he made the worst dad in the galaxy. He just let his child die.

You came with us. I guess you did.

He should have just left the kid with Cut and Suu. She would be bitter; angry. And, knowing regs; knowing them; that anger would never have gone away, not really. Even if Omega never talked to them; never looked at them again, it would be better than this. 

C’mon, kid. Chow time.

Okay, dad.

He killed his daughter. 

Nothing will ever be right again.

Chapter Text

The first thing she feels is pain.

Even though her entire body is screaming at her to move, Omega stays as still as possible, waiting for her mind to clear. Things she knows: She's failed the mission. Based on the amount of pain she is feeling, she still has her arm. Based on the amount of pain she is feeling, she’s been captured by the Empire.

Things she doesn’t know: Everything else.

She eventually manages to push past the pain; trying to map out her surroundings using her other senses than her eyes. There’s a steady hum maybe three metres in front of her; probably a ray shield or a laser gate. The absence of…any other noise tells her she’s in a detention area. She can’t hear the bootfalls of guards, but that doesn’t mean anything. 

If she’s been captured by the Empire, it’s only a matter of time before that Imperial officer that met Hunter on Kamino finds her. It’s only a matter of time before she’s questioned for information; probably tortured. Can she handle it? She has to. 

But until then, she’s just gonna pretend like she’s still drugged, delay the torture for as long as she can.

'Our lives are this way because of Omega.' 

'We should be doing more.'

She loves her brothers, and she knows Echo doesn’t mean his words like that. He’s not casting blame; he’s just stating facts. But the fact he and the others are ignoring is this: he’s right. She’s caused all of this. It’s all her fault. If she hadn't gone after Hunter in that hangar, he never would have come back for her. They never would have lost Crosshair. Echo's completely right; their lives are ruined because of her.

Now she’s gone.

A massive part of her is terrified. She's never had a family before the Batch. She doesn't...doesn't want to lose that; lose them. Her calling Hunter dad was started as a joke, but it doesn't change the fact that she completely means it.

'Oh. Hey, dad.'

'Why do you call me that?'

She's selfish. Omega knows exactly how her joining the squad ruined their lives, but she still wants to be a part of them; still wants that family. Still wants to belong. She can't...she doesn't want to be alone ever again. 

'Isn’t that what you are?'

What would Hunter think about her being gone? It’s a question she’s trying to ignore. Her heart says he’ll come for her; protect her, but she also knows how he thinks. She fell a long way, and she has no armour. The logical assumption is that she’s dead. 

If they think she’s dead…

“You’re awake.”

Rescue won’t be coming.

Omega slowly opens her eyes and stares at the figure on the other side of the red laser gate. Too late, she realises that she’s trembling. So much for faking it.

The figure on the other side of the laser gate is a reg. From the grey markings on his armour and the custom helmet he has, he’s a higher-up; maybe a captain or a commander. And he’s reaching for his comlink.

“Wait!” Omega tries to stand and instead falls to the floor, her entire body locking up with agony as she jostles her right arm. Words, movement, her entire brain shuts down while she tries not to cry out. She squeezes her eyes shut and clenches her left hand, trying to get a handle on it.

“...not to lose it.”

The pounding in her head subsides enough for her to catch the tail end of the reg’s comment, and Omega doesn’t even try and move; she just lolls her head in his general direction. “...wha?”

“Your right arm is broken and you tore your shoulder tendons.” Yeah…that would explain the constant pain. “You’ll make a full recovery in time, but you’re lucky not to lose your whole arm.”

Probably. 

She still can’t think; she can barely move. She can’t even open her eyes, but she can feel the reg watching her. “Who…?”

That’s all she’s got, but it seems to be enough for him. “Name’s Cody, kid.” She flops her left hand in his general direction as a greeting. “I know your designation, but I don’t know your name.”

She’s loath to tell these guys her name, but she also doesn’t want to be addressed as C-02. Even them speaking that designation is torture enough. “O…Omega.”

The reg - Cody - hums in acknowledgement. “Omega. Wanna tell me why you were caught stealing cargo?”

What is…is this an interrogation? She’s been picturing an IT-O droid; this is okay. Slowly, she can think again, but she doesn’t try to move. She just stays on the floor, finally opening her eyes to study Cody. The reg’s squatted on the floor near the laser gate, back leaning against the wall. If not for the helmet, he looks almost…normal.

She knows the name Cody. One of the highest ranking regs in the Republic; close friend of Captain Rex; one of the first commanders to execute Protocol 66. That’s really all she knows about Cody, but she’s not gonna let him know.

The pain subsides enough for her to lift her head. “My dad wants a better life for me.”

Isn’t a lie.

Cody’s helmet tilts. “Your dad?” He stretches up and snatches a datapad off the control console. “Based on my information, you don’t have a dad.”

Depends on the information, really. Before being labelled a defective clone, her purpose was to be another child for Jango Fett. Since a clone that’s female isn’t good for business, she got buried, but she knows what her purpose was supposed to be.

And even if Cody doesn’t count that, Hunter’s basically her dad. So, yeah, not a lie.

Not that she’s going to volunteer that information.

She’s finally able to move, so Omega carefully adjusts her body so she’s sitting properly on the floor, back against a raised shelf that’s probably her bed. “Don’t trust everything you read.”

There’s a sound that could be a chuckle as Cody sets the datapad on the floor. “You’re more right than you know.” He adjusts himself until he’s copying how Omega’s sitting. “So, who’s your dad?”

Omega considers. If Cody knows the designation C-02, then he probably knows her history. So she can maybe get away with saying Jango Fett. But if she goes down that thought trail, then the following conversation is likely to shake loose memories she’s been trying to keep away ever since Kamino.

‘Omega!’

She can tell him her dad’s Hunter, but Clone Force 99 is considered dead by the Empire. Means Crosshair’s helping them, but Crosshair isn’t here. With the amount of noise they made on the Serenno op, it’s possible that Clone Force 99 is back on the Empire’s radar, but she’s not going to give her family away.

“I get it, kid.” Cody reaches up and removes his helmet, revealing himself to be a reg with the standard clone haircut, greying at the temples, and a winding scar on the left side of his face. “I understand your loyalty to your family.”

This is a reg, so Omega doesn’t doubt it. The regs - well, the regs when they’re not controlled by the chip - will do anything to protect their brothers. And she has to do what it takes to protect hers. “Why did you join the Empire?”

Cody shoots her a surprised look, but he also doesn’t answer. He just…stares at the ground for the longest time. Omega’s tempted to try and move to the metal bed when he finally answers. “My general’s dead,” he admits in a small voice, “so is the closest brother I ever had.” He sighs and rests his head against the wall. “All I have left is my squad. They need me.”

Omega hasn’t spent much time with Captain Rex, but she’s heard him talk about Cody to the others. And if the Empire believes Rex is dead, that means Cody does too. Omega knows Cody was one of the most loyal regs in the GAR, so she can’t tell him about Rex. 

They simply sit in silence for the longest time before Cody eventually stands. “Kaminoan records list C-02 as AWOL.” She can’t help the violent flinch at the mention of her designation. She hates that designation with everything she has. Cody, for his part, at least looks apologetic. “They say you got out with Clone Force 99.”

Omega does her best to look sad. “Clone Force 99 died during the Fall of Tipoca City.”

Cody hums, turning away to grab his helmet. “So then how are you here?” He turns back to look at her. “How did you get to Serenno?”

She’s boxed in. Her options include telling him about the Batch or Rex, but that’s betraying them to the Empire. She could cite Cid as the source of intel - not a lie - but then she’s betraying Cid. 

What’s she supposed to do?

She can’t think of a lie quickly enough and Cody nods. “I get it, kid.” He sighs softly. “I know your history, Omega. I know Clone Force 99 took you in when you were alone. They’re your family.” 

There’s a message in there, she thinks. Cody…wants her to keep lying about the squad? Or maybe just tell him and not the Empire? But, he’s Empire. Isn’t telling him and them the same thing? 

She must look terrified because Cody kneels down again. “The way you get through this is by believing they’re coming for you,” he whispers urgently. “I can’t help you, not now, but I know the squad. They’ll come for you. You have to believe that.”

Omega glares at him. “They’re dead.”

Cody nods once. “Keep saying that lie, kid. The Empire believes that, too.”

Cody has a small smile on as he slides his helmet back on. “Mealtime is at 1300. Lights out is at 2100.” His voice is louder. He must be saying this for the benefit of whatever cams or mics are around. He’s covering for her. 

Cody turns back to the corridor. “You’ll adjust quickly enough.”

Then she’s alone.

Omega chances a look down at her right arm and scowls at the heavy plaster binding her arm to her chest. She can feel the cool weight of bacta patches, but she doesn’t even want to imagine what her arm looks like. She can’t even move her shoulder without all that pain overwhelming her. 

What she can do is lower her head to her chest and try not to cry.

This is all her fault. She should have been more careful in that pod. She should have just filled her pack and left. Instead, she was stupid and now she’s here. 

There’s a clone commander trying to help her. That thought should put her at ease, but it doesn’t. Because the regs once tried to help the Jedi. Then their minds were taken over and now all the Jedi are dead.

Cody could try and help her only to lose his free will. She’s not worth that.

The squad’s gonna risk their lives to try and save her. She’s not worth that either. 

'Our lives are like this because of Omega.'  

She’s not a clone. She’s barely a member of Clone Force 99. She’s just a failure; a defective experiment that was supposed to be terminated. That’s usually when the Hunter that lives in her mind appears, telling her that she’s worth more to him than the entire galaxy, but he’s wrong. Real Hunter’s wrong too. She’s not worth…any of it. And now she’s stuck here, helpless. Even more of a liability.

She should have just stayed on Kamino.

She’s not a clone. She’s not even a failed experiment. She’s just a number. Not even Omega, just Clone Unit 2. The second success after Clone Unit 1. Except Alpha actually got to have a life. 

That’s something she’ll never have. She doesn’t deserve it.

She never will. 

Chapter Text

A hand roughly shakes his shoulder and Hunter groans, lifting his head to glare at Cid. “Stop.”

He can barely see; barely think. Which is a good thing. Means he can’t think about how he killed his daughter. He reaches out and fumbles for the half-full bottle somewhere next to him, glaring when Cid grabs it first.

She shakes her head and pulls the bottle away. “You ain’t gonna be able to run from this forever, Bandana.”

Probably not, but he can still try. It’s been four days since…

Since.

He just…he can’t.

Cid’s hand finds his shoulder again; this time as a punch that sends Hunter to the ground. She kicks his stomach too, for good measure.

It’s enough.

Hunter rolls away and reflexively draws his knife. “What the hell was that for?”

Cid folds her arms. “Sober up, Bandana. You think your squad’s any better than you?”

Hunter narrows his eyes. “What about you,” he challenges darkly, “you cared about Omega too.”

It’s his anger, probably, that’s letting him even speak the kid’s name right now. And it has the desired result. Cid flinches, barely visible; but still there, and there’s a distinctly sad droop to her shoulders. “Takes a lot for a Trandoshan to get wasted,” she mutters, “but your squad needs you to take charge; not mope around.”

For all her bluster, Cid cares about Omega as much as they do, Hunter feels. She’s just good at hiding it. Better than he is, certainly. 

Still, she’s right. She’s right and Hunter knows it. His men are taking this just as hard as he is. The Marauder has several new dents in it, courtesy of Wrecker, and neither Tech or Echo have spoken since…

Since.

Hunter shakes his head and slowly stands, returning his knife to its sheath. Kid’s gone, but his men need him. Cid’s right; they deserve better than a leader who’s getting drunk to avoid thinking.

A real leader protects his squad.

Look where that’s gotten you. They’re all going to die here because of your failed leadership.

. . . . . . . . . . 

There’s a new dent in the hull of the ship.

Hunter ignores the pounding in his head and carefully sits down next to Echo. This, at least, he knows how to do. Echo’s just sitting there, slumped down with his hand cradling his head as he stares at his scomp link. 

It’s exactly how he looked when he first joined the 99.

Back then, it had been the posture Echo automatically assumed when the past overwhelmed him. The reg had lost two years of his life to Tambor’s captivity; lost a good percentage of his body; found out his batchmate had died.

That one was the worst.

Captain Rex had told Echo the whole story of Fives, and it shocked even Hunter. The idea that a reg could get that close to uncovering a conspiracy only to get killed by his own brothers in front of his general mere moments before explaining everything? Sounds like something out of a bad holofilm. 

But it was real, and it nearly broke Echo.

He acted much like he’s acting now; dead silent and unmoving. So Hunter acts like he had back then. He just sits back and leans into Echo’s side; the silent confirmation that he still has brothers doing more than talking ever did.

“It’s my fault.”

The first words Echo says since leaving the pod are nearly inaudible, but Hunter still hears the self-hatred in them. He sees Echo’s hand squeeze into a fist as he lowers his arm and leans forward, now staring at the ground.

Hunter just lets him talk.

“I could have gotten to her in time,” he hisses angrily, banging his scomp link against his leg. “But there was a patrol a few klicks from the site. When I finally got there…”

Hunter imagines it isn’t different from what he saw. The ascension cable snapped by blaster fire; the pod at the very bottom of the cliff. Tech barely holding on as he fights back the clones.

No Omega.

“It is not your fault, Echo.” Tech’s voice startles Hunter, and he tilts his head to watch him. Tech hasn’t even taken his helmet off, but Hunter can still read the exhaustion in his brother’s form as he slowly limps towards them. Carefully, Tech sits across from them and mirrors Echo’s posture as much as his fractured leg allows, staring at the floor. “It is mine.”

The words are stated with certainty and a lot of self-hatred. Hunter imagines there’s a lot of that going around. “I was with Omega when she left. If I had been paying attention to her, I could have-”

Hunter shakes his head. “Stop, Tech.” He watches as Wrecker - almost timidly - joins them. “It’s my fault. Omega was acting strange from the moment we landed on Serenno.” He squeezes his hands into fists. “I should have just had her stay on the ship.”

Really, there’s a hundred moments where he could have done something different. He could have simply said no to the op. Even with them taking a vote, he was still the leader. He could have just said no. Or he could have taken Omega with him when they split up.

Or, how about earlier? They could have vanished after Kamino, or he could have left Omega with Cut and Suu. He could have left the kid on Tipoca City to begin with. She could still be alive right now if he had.

The others can blame themselves, but Hunter knows the truth. He alone is responsible for Omega’s death.

And that’s it: the first time he’s actually thought that. And it breaks him. Hunter slouches until he can cover his face with his hands and holds back the tears he knows he’s close to crying. Omega’s not even his actual kid; how do parents get through this? How does anyone?

It’s different from every other reg, every other brother who died in combat. They’re soldiers; they know the risks. They accepted them the moment they were shipped off. It hurts, and then you move on.

Omega…she was just a kid. 

She never signed on to be a trooper; never got trained in combat. Sure, she had been getting better with all of their training, but she was still a kid. 

That’s not the life this kid deserves.

Hunter sighs and raises his head. None of the others are glaring at him; judging him. They should be, but they’re not. 

He doesn’t know what to do with that.

“Are we headed back to Serenno?”

Wrecker’s soft, almost inaudible question has Hunter glancing up at him in surprise. Personally, he’d be thrilled if they never returned to even the system Serenno belonged to. “Why would we?”

Don’t say it, don’t-

Wrecker almost squirms. “We… we can’t leave her there, right?” His gaze dips between the three of them, and Hunter’s sure they’re all shocked too. “We… we need to find her.”

Hunter swallows and tries to keep the emotion at bay. Responses like ‘we can’t find her; she’s gone.’ didn’t mean anything; that’s not what Wrecker’s asking. He’s not asking to go back so they can rescue Omega. He wants them to go back so they can find her body.

So they can bury her. 

His next breath escapes in a rush, and Hunter lurches to his feet, ignoring Wrecker as he stalks down the ramp. He can’t do this. Not today. 

Not any day.

. . . . . . . . . . 

Being sober is so much worse.

They’re still on Ord Mantell; Hunter’s not sure how his squad would function if they took a mission right now. Cid, for her part, seems to understand completely, never once making comments or half-threats at them whenever they show up at the Parlor. 

He’s stopped drinking. Cid’s right; it didn’t help. But now all he has are the memories and the guilt. 

How do you twirl your knife?

Takes practice, kid.

He never did get to teach her that. 

His squad’s talk in the ship seems to have helped them. Echo and Tech still aren’t talking, but they’re at least sleeping now. No new dents have shown up, so it’s possible Wrecker’s doing better. He’s mostly left them alone since Wrecker’s request.

And Hunter’s glad they’re doing better. 

It means they’re leaving him alone.

For Hunter, there’s a whole other layer to this. They had made lots of jokes about it, but it hadn’t changed the fact that every time Omega sarcastically called him dad, something almost seemed to bloom in his chest. It had just felt right.

Well, if he was her dad, then she was his daughter. 

It’s been six months since Kamino. And it feels like all he ever taught Omega was how to hurt people. She hasn’t actually killed anyone, but with everything they had taught her…he wouldn’t be surprised if she could do that and feel nothing. Like them.

What kind of parent was he?

He asked himself that question often enough before; it’s the only thought he has now that Omega’s gone. His relationship with the kid is - was - completely different to his relationship with the 99. Even as cadets, he had been the leader. Of all of them. And when the other 99s started dying; when their number dwindled down to just four, he was the anchor that stabilised the others. He had to be.

He had been promoted to sergeant of Clone Force 99 simply because there was no one else. Even Crosshair, for all his standoffishness, stood down the moment Hunter looked at him like that. 

He was their leader; had been their leader for as long as he can remember. He should have years of experience to draw on with Omega, but his relationship with her turned out nothing like the others. 

The best answer he had for the why was, the others weren’t kids dependent on him for their very survival. Not really; not like Omega. And Hunter had learned early on that Omega was different from a soldier, and tried to treat her as such. 

He wasn’t sure at what point he began treating her like his daughter, but it had…almost seemed natural. 

And then he killed her.

He’s pretty sure sleep isn’t coming tonight. It never comes, anymore. 

He’s okay with that.

Sighing, he gets up from his bunk and moves to the cockpit, idly drawing his knife and twirling it around his hand absently. Honestly, he’s tempted to ask Cid for a mission. It’d probably go horribly wrong, but it might just be better than sitting here in the dark, letting all the memories of Omega he’s ever had wash over him.

I did it!

Attagirl!

He’s really not sure. 

Maybe he’s just too eager for a distraction, but when the ship’s comm beeps, he lurches up to accept the transmission. But when Rex appears, his enthusiasm vanishes. Because Rex knows about Omega; he commed earlier and Echo filled him in. Rex knows, and he seems like the type of leader to ask his men how they’re doing with that sort of loss.

Any greeting gets stuck in his throat. Even with the shaky blue of the hologram, Rex seems…pensive. Nervous. 

Scared?

“I…got a transmission from an old friend,” Rex begins quietly. “An ARC Trooper in the 212th.”

More silence. Silence for so long, Hunter’s beginning to wonder if the transmission had frozen. But eventually, Rex focuses on him. 

“Hunter… we need to talk.”

It’s irrational, he knows, but something inside him is convinced this is about Omega. “Rex?” He tries not to let any eagerness show. He can’t, but he also can’t stop his heart from beating triple-time. “Captain?”

Rex sighs. “I have an op.”

Everything crumbles.

Hunter slumps down in his seat, smoothing everything he’s feeling behind a mask of indifference. If Rex isn’t here to talk about it, showing him how much Omega’s loss bothered him would just be an invitation. 

Still, he can’t quite banish the emptiness inside. “Copy.”

Chapter Text

“What are you doing here?”

That question; that voice gets Omega to stand as quickly as she can to her feet, staring through the laser gate at her newest visitor. “Crosshair?”

Crosshair folds his arms and it’s easy for Omega to imagine his eye roll. “Heard there was a kid in lockup.” He removes his helmet so now Omega can see the eye roll. “Should have known it was you.” His gaze flicks briefly to Omega’s arm, but he seems to ignore it. 

Omega takes a small step forward. “Can… can you get me out?”

It’s either her imagination, or something in Crosshair’s face softens for a millisecond. And, knowing the sniper, it could easily be either one. “No.”

Omega sighs and nods, trying desperately to keep the tears from falling. She figured. She’s on her own. 

“I’m doing what I can to keep Rampart’s attention away from you.”

Her head shoots up and Omega stares wide-eyed at Crosshair. “Rampart?”

Another eye roll. “The officer Hunter met on Kamino.” 

That explains some of it. Not all of it. “Why?”

This time, she’s sure something softens in his face. “You’re my sister,” he mutters.

'They’re still your brothers, Crosshair.'

'You’re my brother too.'

Omega swallows and closes her eyes; feels a few tears slip out. She’s not alone. She’s not. 

Maybe more than a few tears slip out. 

Crosshair’s comm beeps and he straightens. “Keep your head down.” He slides his helmet on and takes a step back. “I’m doing what I can.”

Then he’s gone.

Omega sits on her ‘bunk’ and tries to sort everything out. Crosshair being here was the last thing she expected - okay, maybe that would be Hunter randomly showing up. But still. And even more shocking is the idea that he’s looking out for her. 

What happened after they left him alone on that landing pad?

'You offered us a chance, Crosshair. This is yours.'

'I made my decision.'

'Thank you for saving AZI.'

'Consider us even.'

She has no idea. But she sorta feels better knowing one of her brothers is here; looking out for her. 

Sorta.

. . . . . . . . . . 

“Tell me about Clone Force 99?”

It’s framed as a question, but Omega’s been with Cody long enough to tell it’s an order. And she’s sure it’s a ploy designed to get her to break, despite the hint of desperation in his voice.

Earlier, he said she had to hold onto hope. To trust her squad. She trusts them, but she doesn’t trust Cody. Even though the reg is acting nice and like he cares, he could just be following orders. This could all just be Cody’s chip forcing him to act like this. 

So no matter how nice Cody acts, Omega can’t trust him. 

She stubbornly shakes her head, which draws an exasperated sigh from Cody. “Kid, I’m not doing this for the Empire.” His eyes take on that same desperate quality as his voice. “I’m doing this for me.”

Omega still doesn’t believe him. 

It’s been a week, she thinks. A week since she saw Crosshair. A week of solitude, other than the daily visits from Commander Cody. And she tried, she really did, but his questions eventually wore her down. Cody knows that the Batch is alive; knows they’re operating as mercenaries; knows about Ord Mantell.

She’s betrayed her family.

Since then, she’s managed to clamp down somewhat. She hasn’t told Cody about Rex, or the growing rebellion the reg captain is working with. She’s trying her best not to betray them again.

She’s trying her best not to break again. And her sudden revelation about this being Cody’s chip is enough to stun her into silence. For all she knows, that information has already been passed to whoever’s in charge. 

She can’t risk it again. She’s not important, but they are. 

“I worked with Clone Force 99 during the War,” Cody says for the…hundredth?...time. “We were close.”

Uh-huh. The Jedi and the regs were close too. Doesn’t matter how friendly Cody’s being; doesn’t matter if he is actually on her side. The instant his chip activates, they’re all in danger. 

She hasn’t met this Rampart yet, and she really doesn’t want to. 

She just…she wants home. She wants her squad.

The emotion wells up inside her chest and Omega turns away towards the wall. Bad enough to start crying; worse to let Cody see it. But even as she shuts her eyes, she can feel the tears streaming down her face.

She wants her dad.

. . . . . . . . . . 

Two weeks, she thinks.

Cody still comes by every day. After he made her cry the last time, he stopped asking about Clone Force 99, for which Omega is so grateful for . Instead, he just asks her basic questions. Where she grew up; what it was like in Nala Se’s private laboratory; why she’s female if she’s a clone.

The fun questions.

Omega answers…as much as she’s willing. She grew up on Kamino; Nala Se’s lab sucked; she left that last one unanswered. 

It’s too…personal. Too tied up in her memories of those little CT-99s. 

She’s beginning to think Cody has orders to interrogate her, but he’s keeping it down to these insignificant questions. Because Cody said he knew her designation. If he knows that…then he knows everything. 

And if he was ordered to interrogate her, maybe this is his way of defying the chip. Like how the regs miss shots more often than not. They’re fighting the chip. She’s seen commandos on Kamino and they’re much better than the commandos she’s fought in the field. 

Maybe all the regs are fighting against their chip. But she still can’t take that chance. 

But it is slightly comforting to know Cody’s trying to protect her by asking questions he knows the answers to.

The only reason to ask questions he knew the answer to was to keep from asking questions he didn’t know the answer to. Answers that she wouldn’t answer. 

Questions that would result in torture.

Omega shivers.

More than anything, she wants her family to come for her; come save her. But they would be thinking she’s dead. Tech certainly believed that staying in the pod would lead to their deaths.

“Commander Cody.”

Both of them start at Crosshair’s voice; he’s further down the hallway with folded arms, helmet on so Omega can’t tell what he’s thinking. 

It’s good to see him, though.

Cody stands; tucks his helmet under his arm. “Crosshair.”

He doesn’t move.

Crosshair just stands there for a moment before moving, and Omega can easily imagine his eye roll as he makes his way to them. He stops a few paces away from Omega’s cell and turns to Cody. “Clone Force 99 is on Ryloth. I am going after them.”

No way. No way this is coincidental. No way Crosshair goes to her cell to tell Cody he’s going to be hunting down her family. His family.

There’s a message here, somewhere.

Cody’s eyes flick to her briefly before settling on Crosshair. “Orders?”

“Dead or alive.” His tone is mostly nonchalant; like he’s just grabbing dinner, but ‘alive’ is slightly stressed. 

'If I wanted you dead, you would be.'  

Crosshair still doesn’t want to kill his brothers. 

Omega has to believe that.

Cody nods. “How long?”

“Few days.” Crosshair’s helmet turns to her for a moment before returning to Cody. “Not long.”

Crosshair turns to leave, and Omega understands the message. This is his way of telling her she’s not forgotten; that he’s not abandoning her. 

'I was one of you. You may have forgotten, but I haven’t.'  

Both Crosshair and Cody begin walking away and Omega slumps down to her ‘bunk’. There’s something else; something Crosshair said on that mission to rescue Echo. Something Omega only knows about because she was playing with Tech’s helmet, and Tech records everything.

'If I were left for dead, I would not be so loyal.'

Maybe he was saying it to get a rise out of Captain Rex; maybe he meant it. Either way, it fits. They left Crosshair for dead. He responded by fully joining the Empire and hunting them down.

'Aim for the kid.'

'You want to protect the kid? Then let her go!'

Omega doesn’t understand Crosshair; not really. A lot of that is probably due to his chip not fully activating. So she has no baseline to understand him. 

This is so confusing.

The lights abruptly shut off and Omega curls in on her side as much as her arm will allow. She misses Lula and her trooper. She misses Gonky.

She misses all of them. 

She just wants to go home.

. . . . . . . . . . 

“So this is the other enhanced clone.”

That’s a new voice. Omega opens her eyes to see some Imp officer looking at her, Cody just behind him. Frowning slightly, Omega sits up. “Who’re you?”

The officer ignores her question. “Commander, what exactly happened to lead to this clone’s capture?”

Cody straightens slightly. “Unknown, Sir. She was found on Serenno.”

“Interesting.” The officer turns to Cody. “Clone Force 99 perished during the Fall of Tipoca City. How is it this one is here now?”

“Sir?” She can hear the confusion in Cody’s voice. “There… was an official report stating Clone Force 99 was on Serenno with Omega.”

“The report is incorrect.” The officer glances at her. “A team of mercenaries attacked our forces on Serenno and killed Captain Wilco. They were not Clone Force 99 as that squad no longer exists.”

Omega can imagine Cody’s confused stare as his helmet faces the officer for a few more seconds before straightening. “Yes, Sir.”

The officer kneels down to be on her level. “So, you’re the one they call C-02.”

Omega can’t help it; she flinches. Violently. Her arm gives a painful twinge in response as she curls in on herself. A shudder courses through her body as she tries to steady her breathing. “My name is Omega,” she states in a hopefully-not-shaky voice.

“So they even let their failed experiments have names. Interesting.” The officer stands and looks back at Cody. “Prep Interrogation Three. We need to learn everything C-02 knows.”

Interr-

Omega backs away until she hits her ‘bed’, trembling. Torture. 

She…no…she…

'C-02’s genetic structure is intact despite the defect. It is a viable replacement for Jango Fett.'

She doesn’t…she…

'Inform Jango that Alpha was the only successful product of unaltered cloning. Restrict C-02 to your laboratory. We will use it when the time is right.'

'Yes, Prime Minister.'  

Dimly, she can hear Cody’s voice. “Sir, she’s just a child!”

She can hear the officer scoff from a thousand klicks away. “She is a failed experiment, commander. She’s not a soldier; she’s not even a clone. Do it.”

Omega closes her eyes and presses her head into her hands. She can’t…she…

The new drugs burn and make her cry out but no one listens no one ever listens because she’s not even a person and Nala Se doesn’t even care she’s just a failed experiment and they’re just trying to find out why but it hurts and it burns and it doesn’t stop hurting but she can’t-

Omega gasps and wraps her left arm around her knees, pitching forward until her head is against the cool durasteel wall. It does nothing to help her. She can’t…she can’t breathe. She can’t breathe!

'C-02’s cells are rejecting the drugs.'

'If it does not yield results, terminate it.'

Omega squeezes her left hand and tries to focus on something; anything. She’s had panic attacks before. She can fix this. 

'Hunter!'

'Tell them to come back! Order them to come back!'

She imagines her family; all of them. She imagines her room; with Lula and her trooper. She imagines Gonky and AZI. 

She imagines herself back home.

Slowly, the beskar clamp on her lungs loosens, and Omega slumps to the floor, trying to control her breathing. She’s fine, she’s fine. She’s okay. Crosshair’s here. Cody’s here. She’s fine.

'Prep Interrogation Three.'

She’s going to die.

Dad! 

Chapter Text

 “Hunter, have you found him yet?”

Tech’s voice is distracting. Hunter ducks behind cover as three bolts sail over his head. “No!” he barks into his comm. “There’s too many regs!”

Well, this is going smoothly.

Rex’s op is on Ryloth. Rex’s op is to save Captain Howzer. 

Hunter’s op after this is to beat Rex up. The captain had failed to mention the appearance of those black-armoured ES troopers. Which means that if they are here, so is Crosshair. Although, the captain probably didn’t know.

Still, since Tech’s not able to go in the field until his leg heals, Hunter’s already down three of his squad. He doesn’t really want to get into a firefight with Crosshair right now. 

“Boss, there’s too much heat!”

Hunter shoves everything he’s feeling down and assesses the battlefield. The corridor he and Wrecker are in also has maybe a dozen regs and two ES troopers. “Echo, can you slip around and grab Howzer? We’ll keep the regs distracted.”

“Copy.”

Hunter nods. “Tech! Prep for a fast pickup! Omega, you’re on-”

Everything stops. 

Suddenly, there’s no air in Hunter’s lungs. He can’t breathe. He tears off his helmet and gasps for air. He can hear Wrecker’s blaster going silent; can hear the sharp intake of breath from Tech. Echo’s silent on the comms.

He can’t…he…she…

Sudden rage fills him and Hunter rolls out of cover, hurling his knife and blasting one of the ES troopers in one motion. He grabs his other pistol, sets it for stun, and begins taking down the regs, saving his regular pistol for that other ES trooper. For a brief moment, he loses himself in the action of taking down regs. Blaster bolts streak way too close to his head but he doesn’t care. He wouldn’t care if they hit him. 

He barely notices when the corridor is clear.

He’s still seething; chest rising and falling rapidly; and jerks when something lightly touches his shoulder. He reflexively swings his knife and can only tell this is Wrecker after the knife is grabbed out of his hand.

Hunter blinks once, twice, before stepping back, running a hand over his face. “Sorry, Wrecker.” He moves away; walks over to the cover to pick up his helmet and slide it back on. “We… we should go.”

“Boss…”

Hunter shakes his head. “The mission.”

He can’t think about it.

. . . . . . . . . . 

He can’t stop thinking about it.

He thinks about it as they find Captain Howzer. He thinks about it as they drop Howzer off on some planet he doesn’t remember the name of. He thinks about it as they begin the trip back to Ord Mantell.

He’s thinking about it as Echo sits down next to him. “You okay?”

Nope.

“Yep,” he answers, turning to face the viewport; the endless whirls of hyperspace. He’s fine. Perfectly fine. He’s not currently crushing his gloves under his fists. Nope.

If they weren’t in hyperspace, this is the part where he’d run away. 

“And Crosshair called Wrecker a lousy liar,” he hears Echo mutter before leaning forward. “Hunter, it’s okay to grieve.”

Sure. It’s also perfectly okay to go kill a bunch of Imps. 

It’s not okay to call out his daughter’s name like she’s still alive.

Hunter just folds his arms and leans towards the hyperspace whirls. He’s not talking about this. Echo’s right; she’s gone. 

He just has to move on.

Somehow.

“When Fives died, I-”

Hunter gives a tired sigh. “This isn’t the same, Echo.” He stares at his hands. “Fives was your brother. Omega…”

Omega was his kid. 

He didn’t realise it before. Sure, Omega wasn’t actually his child, but he loved her like she was. He treated her like she was because he could see she needed that. And after Kamino; after losing Crosshair, he needed that too. 

She needed a dad and he needed someone to care for. Maybe they had felt that way but that bond only ever showed itself in Omega’s jokes. The sarcastic way she would call him dad. 

He wishes it was real. But it was too late for that. 

She’s gone.

“Hunter…”

Hunter whirls on Echo, suddenly furious. “It’s not the same!” He’s furious at them; at the Empire; at himself. He’s just furious at himself. “It’s not!” His voice cracks on the last word and he shakes his head, standing to get away. “I was supposed to protect her! Keep her safe!” he slams his fist into the Marauder’s hull. “Not turn her into a soldier and get her killed!” 

The ship is silent; he knows the others can hear him. He still can’t stop. “Omega trusted me to take care of her, and I failed!”

Echo holds up his hand. “We all failed to-”

Hunter bunches his fists. “She didn’t call you dad.” His voice drops low; menacing. He doesn’t know why. “It’s my fault, Echo! It’s all my fault!”

The ship is quiet as the echoes of his shouts die, and Hunter slumps down to the floor and covers his head with hands. “She trusted me to keep her safe and I killed her,” he whispers hoarsely. 

He doesn’t register anything else until he senses bootfalls and someone kneeling down next to him. And when he looks up, he’s not even surprised it’s Rex. “Captain,” he whispers.

Rex has this…broken look on his face, but Hunter has to remind himself that, for all the reg captain’s experience, he’s never gone through the loss of a child. And Rex seems aware of that; he just sits next to Hunter and leans into his shoulder.

Somehow, it’s the tiniest bit comforting, and Hunter rests the back of his head against the Marauder’s hull. “I’m done, Rex,” he whispers so quietly it’s nearly inaudible. “I can’t… I can’t do this anymore.”

He can’t. Soldiers; mercenaries; smugglers, they all carry risks. Risks Hunter and his brothers were more than willing to handle. And, if they died, they knew it could happen.

He forgot that risk carried to Omega too.

He can’t do this anymore.

Hunter closes his eyes and feels a tear slip down his face. “I’m done,” he reaffirms. 

. . . . . . . . . . 

The remainder of the trip back is silent. 

Hunter leans back in the copilot’s seat and watches the stars whirl by. He had always found hyperspace peaceful. It was a useful distraction; a way to empty his mind of thoughts and just focus on those endless blue swirls.

Omega liked hyperspace too. 

Even nearly a year later, he’s still able to picture that look on her face the first time the Marauder jumped to hyperspace. That…look of rapture; of wonder. And, later, how that same look would appear every time they landed on a new planet. 

'What is this?'

'That would be dirt.'

'It’s amazing!'

After the Fall of Kamino, Hunter had made it his mission to introduce the kid to as many different planets as he could. Naboo; Krownest; they once had a drop on Umbara that they only took because Echo wanted to see what Fives had experienced. They had Rex for backup on that one.

Was that where he went wrong? They went from actually exploring the galaxy to fully becoming mercenaries. He should have just found a planet for them to lay low and stayed there.

This kid mercenary they created…Omega loved their missions. She loved the thrill, the action. She never liked being relegated to backup, even though Hunter did his best to keep her safe. 

'Appreciate the backup. But try staying inside the ship next time.'

'I’ll try. But it was still pretty fun.'

Right. If he actually wanted to keep her safe, he would’ve found a world for them to hide out on from the start. Gone with Cut and Suu. Done something; anything besides leading Omega to her death. 

‘Stop pretending to be something you’re not, Hunter.’

Crosshair recognised those risks. He urged them to let Omega go for her own good. Hunter hadn’t listened, and now she’s gone.

He sighs and refocuses on the blue whirls. He misses her. More than he could ever express; more than he ever thought. And now…he’s lost in a way he could never imagine.

'I get my own helmet?'

'Sorta. It’s not like ours. You’ll have to wait a few years for that.'

'Thank you!'

They had a conversation, once. After Bracca and Bora Vio. About how she needs to prepare to witness death. Beyond the general threat of them being soldiers, they’re still clones. They age at twice the rate Omega does. The odds were that she’d watch each of them die.

She hated that conversation, but she understood it. She cried and hugged him and said that she never wanted to lose him; lose them. He couldn’t promise that. 

He just…never thought that their positions would be reversed like this. Omega’s supposed to go on and live a life! Not…not die at fourteen. 

Not die because he was too blind to the dangers of this life. Because he failed. As a leader; as a father; as a clone. He failed her and there’s no way to ever make that right. 

Someone sits down in the pilot’s seat, and without looking away from the stars, Hunter knows who it is. “What is it, Wrecker?”

Wrecker is silent, which is unusual for him. He’s the youngest of the remaining CT-99s, and as a result of him being larger than any other clone; reg or 99, he was sent out into the field early. The rest of their squad was ten when Clone Force 99 was created; Wrecker was eight. 

He’s strong, but he’s also rash; emotional. He still has to learn things that the others learned in their final years on Kamino. 

He’s never this silent. 

Finally, Hunter turns and faces him. “What is it?”

Wrecker visibly hesitates before speaking. “Omega… isn’t your fault, Sarge.” Hunter scoffs, but Wrecker continues. “You gave her every chance to leave; have a normal life. She chose to be here.”

'You don’t have to get rid of me. I left Kamino with you. This is where I want to be.'

'If this is where you want to be, then this is where you’ll stay.'

Hunter sighs. “She’s just a kid, Wrecker. She might be older than us, but she’s still a kid.” He stops. He’s talking about Omega in the present tense. Like she’s still alive.

He turns back to the stars. “She wanted to stay with us because we were the first people to treat her like a being instead of an experiment.”

'I don’t want to end up an experiment in a tube.'

'You are never going back to Kamino.'

''Promise?'

'I promise.'

Another promise he broke. 

'I’m sorry, Omega. I know I promised you’d never have to come back here.'

'You did the same for me.'

Wrecker’s hand lands softly on his shoulder. “It’s not your fault, Hunter,” he breathes.

Then he’s gone.

In the silence that follows, Hunter doesn’t know what to do.

. . . . . . . . . . 

He still doesn’t know what to do hours later, and is so lost in thought that he startles when Rex sprints past him and begins typing on the centre console.

Hunter scows and focuses on the reg. “Captain?”

Rex doesn’t respond; doesn’t even acknowledge him as he keeps typing on the console. Hunter glances back as the rest of his squad appear near the cockpit - Wrecker helping Tech stand. So he’s not the only one wondering if the reg’s finally lost his mind. “Rex?”

Rex leans back as the holoprojector whirls to life, beaming out a picture of…someone. The signal’s too fuzzy; all Hunter can tell is this someone has armour.

Rex curses and drops the ship out of hyperspace, and amid the yelling the others produce, Hunter can see the signal steadying.

It takes his breath away. “Cody?”

The reg commander glances at him briefly before focusing on Rex. “Rex. I got some news you’re not gonna like.” Now he refocuses on Hunter. “Sergeant. We need to talk.” 

Chapter Text

She can’t help it; she whimpers as the laser gate falls and two of those black-armoured clones step into her cell. Omega backs away from them, folding her left arm across her body. It’s been…she’s lost count of how long it’s been, but she still can’t use her right arm. It’s still lashed to her chest.

She’s afraid of what will happen to it during whatever’s going to happen to her. 

The two black troopers reach for her and Omega kicks out in panic, managing to catch one in the chestplate. They stumble back - and then pull out a pistol.

Omega stills.

“Get up.” It’s a woman’s voice. So most of the regs have been replaced. “Now.”

She’s trembling, but she still stands.

The woman grabs her left arm and all but drags her out of her cell, the other black trooper following behind. They’re moving quickly; it’s more like Omega’s being dragged across the floor than her actually walking. She looks down. The floor is so shiny she can see her reflection through tear-filled eyes: a crying, terrified girl.

That’s what she is. She used to think she was a soldier, like Hunter, but a soldier could handle this. She…she can’t. She’s terrified of what’s about to happen.

Hunter, save me!

She can’t count on that. Hunter had promised her that she was stuck with them for the long run, but that doesn’t matter if they think she’s dead.

And she’s sure they do. Otherwise she would have been rescued by now.

As she’s being dragged across the floor, Omega closes her eyes and tries to picture him. That soft gentle smile that appears over his face whenever she calls him dad; the pride that enters his eyes when he catches her successfully mimicking something he’s doing. His soft voice whispering reassurances whenever she wakes him up after a nightmare about Kamino or about Bane.

His image helps her steady her breathing for a few seconds. His image vanishes as the sounds of a door being open are heard. Omega opens her eyes and wishes she hadn’t. 

The room is black. No viewports or vents; just black walls. In the centre of the room is a chair, and Omega’s breathing triples as she realises what’s about to happen.

She tries to shake free; tries to run, but the woman grips her arm even tighter. Omega’s sure she has bruises on her arm.

She’s…she’s also sure those won’t be the only bruises. 

One of her first lessons after joining the Batch was to face your problems head-on. She doesn’t want to do that here; doesn’t want to face this reality. 

Omega closes her eyes and tries to conjure Hunter’s image again, but she can’t. This time, all she sees are those few seconds when he fell off the Marauder on Daro. The scariest ten seconds of her life.

It scares her even more.

She flinches as her left hand is held into place by metal bindings. They don’t touch her right arm and that just terrifies her even more. 

‘C-02 is ready for another treatment.’

She can’t…she…no she isn’t…

The door swishes open and Omega just stares at the Imperial officer as he enters the room. Cody is right behind him, and that brings some comfort. Not much, but some. It steadies her breathing, at least.

The officer has some kind of pity - fake, she’s sure - on his face. “Do you have any information you’d like to share willingly?” 

Omega swallows and fixes her gaze on Cody. He’s her brother; he’d help her, right?

…right?

“How unfortunate.” The officer takes a step back and turns to one of the black troopers. “You may begin.”

Cody turns sharply. “Admiral, she’s just a child!”

The officer - Admiral someone - shakes his head like this is not the first time they’ve had this conversation. “Commander Cody, go wait outside.”

Cody stiffens, and his helmet turns to face Omega for a long moment before he leaves. Leaves Omega alone.

Alone.

Her breathing is shaky; she can barely focus, but she still looks at the Admiral. “He’s… he still has his chip.”

“I never found you clones particularly impressive,” Admiral begins, turning back to her, “but the ability to override their wants by your orders is a benefit not to be overlooked.”

The door opens again, but all of Omega’s hopes are destroyed as she sees an IT-O droid float in. She couldn’t…she wasn’t…she…no…

She squeezes her eyes shut in terror and begs whatever gods there are to intervene. Deactivate the droid or kill the Admiral or…something! But she hears the hum of the IT-O droid grow louder as it floats closer, and that’s enough to get her crying again. 

She opens her eyes and looks at the Admiral. She can barely see him through the tears, but he has a small smile on. Like he’s enjoying this. 

That gets her crying again, and she barely sees the Admiral taking a step back. “Begin.”

. . . . . . . . . . 

Oh, gods…

Oh, gods…

Everything hurts. 

Omega whimpers, stretching her left arm over her body. She barely remembers it, but the two black troopers have dragged her back to her cell, and the laser gate is back up.

Everything hurts.

She can’t move; she can barely even think. She can’t remember any questions; just pain. Even the ‘tests’ on Kamino hadn’t hurt like this does. 

She moves her right leg and cries out.

The Admiral could ask his questions, but Omega doesn’t know anything! She doesn’t! It’s been a long time since she last saw her family; they could be anywhere by now! Kamino’s gone; Tipoca City’s gone; Nala Se’s gone. What do they want with her?

Tears that have nothing to do with the pain she’s feeling leak down her face and Omega sniffles, tucking her head into her left shoulder. She wants to leave. She wants to go home.

She wants Hunter. Her dad.

Her entire body aches. She barely remembers what they did to her. The IT-O droid stuck her with some kind of needle and then it was just pain and burning and-

It had only taken a few minutes for her to break, but no one cared. The Admiral had left the room and then she was begging the droid to stop. But the droid didn’t listen. 

It just kept going. 

She remembers electricity. Some pointy thing shocking her. After that…it’s just a whirl of agony and fire. 

She sobs and tries to muffle it with her shoulder; tries not to draw attention to herself. She can’t…she doesn’t…she…

“What have they done to you?”

Omega squeezes her eyes shut tighter as more tears leak out. “Cr’ss’hr.”

It’s all she can manage; she can’t even turn her head to look at him. She hears the revulsion in his voice, but what can he do? She doesn’t know if she feels relief or despair.

She’s going to die here, and she’s going to die alone.

Crosshair doesn’t say anything else; she’s not even certain he was even here to begin with. She has no idea what else happened in that room; she could just be hallucinating. 

But when she finally manages to turn her head to face the laser gate, there’s no one there. She’s alone. 

Everything hurts. 

Omega breaks fully and starts crying - crying like she hasn’t in years. Last time she did was…when those little CT-99s started dying and no one would help them.

Is that what she is now? Those kids…the Kaminoans had locked them in rooms and monitored them as they died, as each failed enhancement killed them. All for their data. All for four clones that were stable enough to become her family. 

But the Kaminoans just watched those other kids die; watched them scream in pain and did nothing, like the Empire is watching her and doing nothing. 

Is she going to die?

She just…she wants Hunter.

But that’s never going to happen. He’s never going to find her. 

‘They can send everyone in the galaxy.’

He’s…he’s never…never going to…

‘You have us.’

She’ll never see him again. She’ll never see any of them again. She’s never going ot make it out of here alive. 

She knows that now. 

. . . . . . . . . . 

“Kid…”

She can’t move. At some point in the night, she was able to crawl onto her bed, but she can’t sleep and every hum has her petrified that the IT-O droid is back. 

She thought she heard Crosshair’s voice a few times in the night, but he was never there. She doesn’t know if her brother’s finally abandoned her. She remembers she used to have faith in people.

That got burned by the drugs, she thinks. 

But there’s a new voice. It sounds like Cody, but it probably isn’t. If she’s hallucinating Crosshair, she’s probably hallucinating Cody too.

Figures the IT-O droid would stick her with a hallucinogen. Because everything else clearly wasn’t enough. 

So when she hears Cody’s voice, she’s not sure he’s really there. She can’t raise her neck so she slowly turns her head to look out the laser gate.

Even though she sees him there, she’s still not convinced he’s real.

“Kid…” Maybe-Cody pulls off his helmet and sits down next to her cell. “I am so sorry.”

Omega squeezes her eyes shut and tries not to cry. “You didn’t save me,” she whispers in a tiny voice.

“I’m sorry, Omega.” There’s something in his voice. She’s too hurt to really figure out what it is, but his voice is rough. “The Admiral gave me and order and I-”

He trails off. Omega would nod if she could. She understands. “Your chip…”

“Yeah.” Maybe-Cody sighs. “I would have gotten you out if I could.”

Maybe. She’s honestly too tired to really figure out if he’s telling the truth. She’s too tired to…she’s just too tired. 

She opens her eyes and stares at Maybe-Cody through the tears. “I want to go home,” she sobs. Her willpower vanishes and the tears begin streaming down her cheeks. “I want-I want H-Hunter…”

There’s something broken on Maybe-Cody’s face. He looks down and away then he shifts closer to her. “I’m… I’m trying to help.”

Sudden pain laces through her body and Omega grits her teeth against the agony. A choked whimper escapes, the sound making Cody flinch. When the pain finally fades, she closes her eyes and tries not to cry. “Kill me…” she whispers.

She’s never making it back home. Hunter’s never going to find her. If all she has left in her life is this torture, she’d rather end it. Have him…blast her or…something. She’s not…she doesn’t…

“What?” Cody sounds…horrified. “Kid?”

Omega opens her eyes. “Just… let me die,” she begs. She knows…they’re gonna torture her again. She’d rather…she’d rather die than go back in that room. “Please…”

Cody stands and slowly backs away from her cell, that horrified look spreading across his entire face. “Kid…”

He’s not going to do it. 

Omega turns to face the wall as best she can and cries. Hunter’s not coming. Crosshair can’t help her; she’s not even sure he’s back from Ryloth. Cody still has his chip in.

She’s alone. 

She doesn’t want to die, but she also never wants to be tortured again. But Cody won’t do it. Maybe he doesn’t like the idea of killing a kid. Maybe his chip won’t let him. Omega can’t do it; there’s nothing sharp in here. Maybe she could move her head the next time the IT-O droid sticks her and have the needle cut her neck, but that would mean going back into the room and…

She’s never going to go home. Maybe she still believed Hunter would find her before, but now…her options are killing herself or being tortured. Really, between death and a living death. 

Cody doesn’t say anything else, so she’s thinking he left. Now she’s really alone. Alone with her agony and memories. 

Nobody’s coming. Nobody’s gonna help her. She’s on her own. 

She’s gonna die in here. 

Alone. 

Like always.

Chapter Text

She’s alive.

He can’t focus. He hasn’t been able to since Commander Cody’s transmission. It had been short; only a few seconds. Long enough for Cody to tell the important news. 

Omega is alive. She’s alive and on a planet named Wayland.

He can hardly believe it. He…how did…what…

They have to get her. Right now. 

Hunter surges forward into the cockpit. “How far away are we?”

Tech checks the console. “Three days.”

Hunter grunts. “That’s too long. Make it go faster.”

“Hunter, that is physically impossible.”

Hunter ignores Tech and returns to pacing. He doesn’t care if they push the Marauder beyond its limits. All he cares about is getting his kid out. 

His kid. Omega might not be biologically related to him, but she’s his daughter. He tried being her brother and he wasn’t good enough. This way, maybe he’ll have a chance to protect her.

He’d gladly sacrifice his life to keep her safe. Isn’t that what dads do? He doesn’t care about being a soldier. That doesn’t matter anymore. If it ever did.

“Hunter!” 

He turns in time to see the holoprojector sputters to life and Hunter practically shoves Rex out of the way. “Cody!”

The reg commander nods stiffly. “I don’t have a lot of time. Listen fast.” He pauses for a moment - long enough to stop Hunter’s heart as he thinks the holoprojector froze - and checks his surroundings before continuing. “Omega is alive. She’s on Wayland in a compound called Tantiss. She’s…she’s been interrogated.”

Hunter freezes. 

He’s seen interrogations by the Republic: lots of time in isolation; lots of yelling and raised voices; physical coercion if things are desperate. 

He’s seen interrogations by the Empire: they just jump straight to what he could only call torture. Strap you onto a table and send an IT-O droid. A droid that doesn’t even hear what you say; it’s just there to inflict pain.

The idea that Omega…the idea that his daughter is about to be tortured with an IT-O droid is more than he can handle. Something inside him snaps as he looks at Cody. “Tell me everything.”

“Admiral Rampart ordered Omega to be interrogated.” Cody looks away. “I tried, but my chip…”

Hunter understands. He’s seen what the chip can do. “It’s not your fault, commander.”

“Hunter…” Cody just stares at him for a moment, something broken on his face. “Omega…she asked me to kill her. You…you need to get here fast. She-”

The transmission suddenly cuts out and as Rex curses, Hunter sits back. Wayland. Tantiss. That means nothing to him. Tech or Echo could plot the coordinates. 

The kid is in an Imperial facility being tortured. Tortured to the extent of wanting to kill herself rather than go through that again.

He sees red.

As Rex tries to regain Cody’s signal, Hunter turns to Tech. “How long,” he almost hisses, “to get there?”

Tech sighs. “Still three days.”

Hunter tries to stay calm. “Tech, that’s too long! You heard Cody; she’s being tortured!”

Tech looks pained. Hunter’s not sure if it’s from his leg or the news about Omega. Could be both. “It is not possible to arrive there any sooner.”

Hunter narrows his eyes. “Figure out a way to get us there faster.” 

Torture. His little girl is in unspeakable pain and they’re on the other side of the galaxy. 

Three days. Anything can happen in three days. Rampart could order Omega killed in three days. Hunter would get there just in time to watch the life fade from her eyes. She’d be gone. Again. For real. 

Cody’s warning keeps on repeating in his head. Omega’s in so much pain she’d rather die. If they don’t get there fast enough…

He can’t. 

Rex grabs Hunter and pulls him away. “Hunter, we need a plan if we’re going to break into Tantiss!”

He has a plan. He’s going to kill them all. Every. Last. One. Anybody who laid a hand on his kid is gonna die.

Rex seems to know what he’s thinking. “We need a better strategy than going in shooting.”

The captain’s right. And it’s enough of a distraction. Forcing away that image of a terrified Omega strapped to an interrogation table or a crying Omega begging to die, Hunter strives to clear his mind. “Copy.”

. . . . . . . . . . 

Echo’s up.

Hunter can’t imagine any normal reason; not this late in the sleep cycle. He’s only awake because he’s too geared up to even try and sleep.

So what’s Echo doing?

Either he’s not being particularly quiet tonight or Echo’s developed a mutation of his own; he starts speaking as soon as Hunter gets near him. “It’s my fault Omega’s captured.”

First, he blames himself for Omega’s death; now he blames himself for Omega being captured. It’s like Echo’s insisting on beating himself up. “You’re wrong.”

Echo turns his chair around to face him. “I was the one who pulled us out of there. I jumped us to hyperspace. I didn’t even try-”

Hunter holds up his hands, shaking his head. “If we didn’t leave when we did, we would be right next to Omega. Captured by the Empire.” It’s Hunter’s fault, anyway. He just jumped to assuming Omega was dead and never even thought about retur-

Wrecker had that idea. To return for Omega. And Hunter shot it down because he couldn’t bear the thought of seeing her body.

If they had gone; if Hunter had looked past his own feelings, they would have seen that Omega wasn’t there; they would have figured out that Omega was alive. She could be with them right now!

‘They’re all going to die here because of your failed leadership.’

Hunter clenches his fists and walks away. 

What was he thinking? Playing mercenaries with a child. Taking risks with her life every day. Every mission is another opportunity for a blaster bolt to kill her; take her away from them for real. Forever.

‘You want to protect the kid? Then let her go!’

‘Stop pretending to be something you’re not, Hunter.’

Crosshair was right. Crosshair was right, and Hunter didn’t listen. 

He’s not making that mistake again. 

Hunter sighs. He’s not a soldier. If being a soldier means risking everything; risking the kid like he has been, then he needs to get out. Take Omega and find somewhere safe. Somewhere they can have a life. 

He’s seen life without Omega. He doesn’t ever want to go through it again.

Hunter forces all that out of his mind and sits down in the pilot’s chair. Still way too long until Tantiss. Rex’s plan is good, but they can do better. They have to do better.

He will do better.

. . . . . . . . . . 

“What happens after you get her back?”

Hunter frowns and glances over at Rex. “We vanish. Go off the grid. Like Cut.”

The reg has a frown to match his. “Hunter, you and your squad are soldiers. How long before you get pulled back into the action? What happens when Omega’s killed alongside you?”

Hunter’s eyes narrow. “Easy, captain.”

Rex raises his hands. “I’m just saying that your squad’s not exactly made for peacetime.”

Hunter shrugs. “Doesn’t matter what the Kaminoans made us for. We choose our own purpose.”

Rex is silent for a while. They just sit and watch the endless whirls of hyperspace for a long time. For a long time, it’s just Hunter and his thoughts. 

What would they do? Out of all the different planets they visited, Omega always seemed the most enthralled by the more laid-back worlds. Saleucami; Lothal. Hunter suspects it’s because Saleucami was the first world Omega ever saw; the first time she ever experienced freedom. 

So maybe that’s what they do. They go off the grid; they go find Cut. He’s a reg that understands what it’s like to have kids; what it’s like to be a father. And the kids know them.

Not a bad plan.

“What if she chooses to still be a soldier?”

Hunter scowls and looks back at Rex. “What?”

“You said your squad chooses their own purpose.” Rex nods. “What happens if Omega wants to keep taking these missions?”

It throws Hunter off. 

His first instinct is to dismiss that idea out of hand. Especially with the knowledge that Omega is probably being tortured right now; he can’t really imagine her wanting to stay in this type of life. 

And yet…she’s one of the most resilient people he knows. She’s managed to bounce back from fourteen years of trauma from Kamino that she hasn’t even shared yet. She’s managed to keep this…optimism…even in the face of the darkness she sees on a daily basis.

Could Omega manage to recover from whatever the Empire is doing to her right now? The more Hunter thinks about it, the more he thinks she can. 

It scares him.

Who’s to say this never happens again? If they continue down this path, it’s only a matter of time before the Empire comes after them. They’ll be exposed, and so will she. And Crosshair once used Omega as leverage before; who’s to say that doesn’t happen again?

‘Aim for the kid.’

‘You want to protect the kid? Then let her go!’

Crosshair claimed his chip was out. Doesn’t matter right now if Hunter believes him or not; he tried to protect Omega. Hunter has to believe he’s on their side. But the Empire’s still after them, and from what it sounds like, Rampart is too. 

Hunter doesn’t know how to protect Omega from that. 

He doesn’t know how to handle her being tortured either. The thought fills him with rage, but that won’t help him once she’s back. She needs-

Hunter runs his hand through his hair. He’s getting ahead of himself. One step at a time. First, they have to get Omega back.

And they will get Omega back. Even if it kills him; he’s going to make sure she comes home.

They can figure out their purpose after. But she comes first. If that means dropping his pistol and never picking it up again, Hunter will gladly do that. As long as she’s safe.

. . . . . . . . . . 

“Copy.”

Rex’s whispered voice draws Hunter’s attention, and he turns to the captain, who is turning off a holoprojector. “Problem?”

Rex shakes his head. “Negative. Just a change of plans.”

Hunter frowns. Their plan has enough holes in it already; what’s this new one? “Which is?”

Rex hesitates for a long moment before sighing. “When we get there, we need to split up.”

He scowls, but already has an idea of what’s going on. “Cody.”

Rex nods. “We have to get him out. You boys go get Omega; I’ll get Cody. We synch back up here.”

Hunter considers before shaking his head. “No. If we split up, we draw more attention to ourselves.” He looks down at the floor, thinking. “Maybe I can grab Omega without being seen, but Cody’s going to be under surveillance. If you spring him, that puts us all at risk.”

Hunter looks back at Omega’s room. He can’t take that chance. But…Cody risked his life to give them this intel; this hope. He owes it to the reg. Sighing, he turns back to Rex. “You and I will go in alone. We each complete our mission while the rest of the squad defends the Marauder.”

It’s risky; far riskier than the first plan. But it’s what they got.

. . . . . . . . . . 

“We are approaching Wayland.”

Hunter steadies his breathing as he pulls weapons from the rack. DC-12; DC-15; vibroknife. He stills as he realises Omega’s bow isn’t here. And if she was captured by the Empire, then it’s inside Tantiss.

One more thing to retrieve. They are not leaving her bow behind. It’d be like leaving Lula somewhere. Not happening. 

Hunter double-checks his weapons and turns to the rest of the squad. Even with their helmets on, he can tell they’re all as focused as him. Wrecker even has his AAT cannon ready. 

Hunter runs the plan through his head and nods. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

“I heard what… you said to the others.”

Crosshair stills. She thinks. She’s barely able to see and she’s still not convinced it’s really Crosshair. “What are you talking about?”

Omega closes her eyes. It’s easier to focus that way. She can barely talk as it is. “About… how they weren’t loyal to you. Echo’s comm was on; I heard… what you said.”

Crosshair doesn’t respond, so she continues. “We wanted to… come after you. We tried to, but the fleet around Kamino… was too strong. And then… after Bracca…”

‘By hook or by crook.’

“Clone Force 99 abandoned me. Like they abandoned you.” 

Omega shakes her head, squeezing her eyes tight at the pain the motion brings. “Not-not true,” she murmurs. “We… we never forgot about you. We tried.” 

“Hm.” She can hear the disapproval in Crosshair’s tone. “Sometimes trying isn’t enough.”

A few tears slip down Omega’s face. “I-I know.” She swallows. “But… they will come for me. And… you can come with us.”

“I made my decision.”

Omega opens her eyes; stares at the dark, blurry figure she assumes is Crosshair. “You… kept us out of reports,” she whispers. “You’re… still watching out for us.”

He might have shrugged. “So what?”

Omega closes her eyes again. “You’re still part of us, Crosshair. You’re… still their brother.” She opens her eyes and tries to smile at him. “You’re still my brother. You never… stopped being.”

There’s silence for too long. When Omega’s finally able to focus, she can see that Crosshair’s gone, if he was ever here at all.

She could be all alone.

Omega sniffles and curls in on herself. She just wants to go home. She doesn’t want this; she doesn’t want to be alone anymore. She wants her brothers; her dad. 

She wants…she wants those lazy mornings waking up to Tech grumbling about how Wrecker’s handling some delicate part of the ship. Echo’s quiet pride when she manages to remember an ARC sign. That grin on Hunter’s face whenever she calls him dad.

She just…wants someone. Anyone.

But there’s no one.

She’s alone.

Again.

. . . . . . . . . . 

He readies his knife, crouching low to try and avoid any sight lines. He doesn’t have to worry about security cams; even disabled, Tech can still help. 

This is a volatile situation and Hunter knows it. That’s why he’s going in alone. Too many of them and the advantage of stealth will be gone.

Not that he expects to have it for long. But with how many regs and TK troopers are here, the Marauder is going to be surrounded the moment he grabs Omega.

This has to go perfectly. There’s no room for errors. He can’t make a single mistake or he might lose Omega. Again. For real. And this time, there won’t be any second chances.

He can’t take that risk. Not with his daughter. 

Hunter adjusts his grip on the knife and gets ready.

No mistakes.

. . . . . . . . . . 

”I must admit, I am surprised you are even conscious.”

Omega knows that voice and tries to crawl backwards, cringing as her back hits the durasteel wall. The Admiral lowers the laser gate and steps inside, and Omega does everything she can to avoid hyperventilating. Because she knows what the Admiral being here means. 

Two of the black troopers enter the cell with him; maybe even the same troopers from before. Omega’s breath comes quicker but she also can’t breathe fuck that means a panic attack she can’t have one right now she’s about to be fucking tortured she doesn’t want to hurt she just wants home and her dad and-

One of the black troopers grabs her arm.

No no she wants home she wants Hunter she doesn’t want to hurt anymore she just wants her family but they aren’t here no one is here it’s just her she’s alone and she’s going to die alone she doesn’t want to be alone but she has no one and now it’s going to hurt and burn and it won’t ever stop so-

She’s forcibly pulled off her ‘bed’ and yanked out of her cell. Just like last time. One of the black troopers has a bruising grip on her arm. Just like last time. She’s about to be led into that room. Just like last time.

She can’t…she…it’s…

She starts sobbing. She tries to pull back, but the black trooper is too strong. The black trooper behind her pushes her forward with the butt of his rifle and she nearly falls. She can’t see where she’s going. She can’t see.

she cant stop this even if she tries its gonna hurt and burn and she cant think straight shes going to die here alone and in pain and shes so useless she cant even fight back she-

She can’t do anything!

. . . . . . . . . . 

Hunter makes sure one pistol is set for stun. The other, he’s saving for Rampart. He dies; his TK troopers die; anyone who’s had a hand in his daughter being tortured is going to die.

He hears two steps of bootfalls and he tenses; waits. As soon as a shadow nears, Hunter lurches out of cover and sinks his knife into the unarmed part of one of the TK trooper’s neck. Twisting them around, Hunter fires his pistol; dropping the other.

He puts his pistol to the first trooper’s head and pulls the trigger, ripping his knife free as the body falls. 

So far, so good.

He moves fast; he moves quiet. All he knows is that Omega is here. He doesn’t know where. For all he knows, Rampart’s taken her off-world and-

No. She’s here. She has to be.

He doesn’t know where to go, but he can feel the static of some kind of energy barrier. It’s two levels down. He can also feel three sets of comlinks down there too.

It’s his best bet.

The armoury is on this level; means Omega’s bow is probably on this level. This is probably his only chance to grab it.

He forces the idea out of his mind. They can always come back for the bow. They can recover it later if this goes sideways.

But this is his only chance to get Omega back.

Hunter goes for the lift.

. . . . . . . . . . 

She can’t control her breathing. She can’t control anything. She tries not to show anything but the Admiral can probably see it anyway why is he doing this she just wants to go home she just wants it to stop why can’t she die that would be better than just the pain and the burning and the-

She whimpers as that manacle is locked into place around her left hand and tries to pull free. She tries, but the chain holds. She’s stuck. She can’t-she-she

‘C-02 is ready, Prime Minister.’

She’s back on Kamino; back in that lab. 

She’s back in hell.

She can barely see through the tears, but the door opens and she hears the whirl of that IT-O droid. She cries out but it doesn’t care. The troopers don’t care. The Admiral doesn’t care.

No one cares.

She’s going to die here.

Her breaths come in terrified gallops as she stares through tear-filled eyes at the IT-O droid slowly floating closer. “H-Hunter…” she whispers through her terror, like he’s gonna apparate and save her. 

She’s alone. And she’s gonna die.

. . . . . . . . . . 

Hunter hurls his knife into the visor of one TK trooper and stuns the reg they’re walking with. He quickly moves forward; able to pick out the interrogation room just by the electric fields running through the base. It’s also the only room in the base that has an active IT-O droid.

There’s only one cell on this level. It’s empty. It doesn’t take Tech to know where Omega is.

She’s in there. With that droid.

Hunter sees red.

He moves as quickly as he dares. Even with his rage, he knows that he can’t afford any mistakes. He can’t afford to deviate from the plan. He can’t risk Omega. 

All that goes out the window when he hears screaming.

Hunter clenches his fists. That’s her. That’s his daughter. 

And she’s being tortured. 

He can let that happen. They’re done hiding anyway. Abandoning stealth, Hunter sprints to the room and pauses just outside. There’s…three comm signatures inside. One mass of electricity he assumes is the IT-O. 

Hunter mentally counts to three and opens the door, rolling inside and firing a single shot that disables the IT-O droid. He can’t look at Omega yet; can’t afford to. He fires two more shots that take out the TK troopers, but when he looks for Rampart, the admiral is gone.

Now Hunter turns. 

His heart gets stuck in his throat. Omega isn’t even conscious. He swears and slams his knife into the shackle around her left arm. His revulsion grows as he sees the mess of plaster around her right arm.

There are bruises on her arms; her neck; her face. There are cuts on her face. He can see burn marks on her left hand and he’s sure there’s more hidden by her clothes. She’s trembling and whimpering in fear and pain. 

Hunter lets out a trembling breath and gently picks Omega up. She cries out in pain as he touches her and curls in on herself as much as she can while Hunter swallows back his revulsion.

Gods, she’s light. Lighter than she was even after they left Tipoca City that first time. Did they even feed her?

Hunter closes his eyes and focuses. There’s no electricity or comlinks around him. They’re clear for right now.

He bends down and gently sets Omega on the floor. With trembling hands, he takes off his helmet and bends his ear towards her chest. Her heart is fast, but it’s there. She’s alive.

“Omega,” he whispers softly, gently cupping the back of her head with his left hand. “Omega, I’m so sorry.”

There’s tears falling down his face, and he doesn’t even notice. He sniffs and adjusts his grip, sliding his right arm under her legs and rising to his knees. “I’m so sorry.”

Her left arm moves and she whimpers deliriously in pain. “Daddy,” she croaks, her voice breaking.

His heart breaks too. He’s not even sure she’s conscious. “I’m here,” he whispers. Hunter swallows and moves his right arm away from her, wiping away both their tears before grabbing his helmet.

She whimpers again and Hunter closes his eyes. This is all his fault. Opening his eyes, he leans forward and gently kisses her forehead before sliding his helmet on. “I got you.”

Before he stands, he pulls out his right pistol and makes sure it’s off stun before sliding his right arm back under Omega’s legs. He takes a moment to make sure his pistol is steady before he stands, Omega in his arms. Her head lulls against his right shoulder. She’s still trembling.

Her…whatever happened to her right arm…her right side is facing away from him. Last thing he wants is to jostle whatever happened. They’re going to take it slow, but they’re going to get there.

Hunter lowers his head, allowing himself one more moment. “We’re going home.”

He makes sure Omega is stable in his arms before moving to the door, slamming the activator switch with his elbow. “Tech, I got her!”

The comm is dead silent for a moment; so long, Hunter wonders if Rampart’s found a way to jam them. Then, finally, Tech speaks. “How is she?”

He’s trying to hide it, but Hunter can hear the emotion in his brother’s voice. “She’s alive,” he manages. Quickly, he checks the corridor. Clear. “Making my way back now.”

“You will have to hurry.” Tech pauses, and a small sound that sounds like a sniff is barely heard over the comms. “We’re expecting more company.”

Hunter nods, ducking into what looks like a storage room as he hears regs’ voices. “Copy,” he whispers. 

He’s got Omega. Now all he has to do is get them home.

Chapter Text

 ‘Our squad’s nothing but trouble. For your sake, stay away.’

’I told you not to come back to Kamino.’

‘Had to. We were looking for you.’

‘I left Kamino with you. This is where I want to be.’

‘If this is where you want to be, then this is where you’ll stay.’

‘She’s with us. She’s not going anywhere.’

‘Hunter, I need you!’

‘If I’m as important as you say, Lama Su will keep sending bounty hunters after me.’

‘He can send everyone in the galaxy. You have us.’

She’s…being carried.

Everything hurts. 

Something presses against her left shoulder and she cries out in pain. She can’t…everything hurts why can’t they just leave her alone or let her die she just wants-

“Omega.”

Her terror shrinks but her tears come back. She knows that voice. She can’t open her eyes, but she knows who this is. “H’nt’r.”

He’s found her. He’s here.

For the first time since this nightmare began, Omega’s able to relax. Not really; not when every movement sends pain racing through her body, but he’s here. Her dad is here.

Everything’s going to be okay.

. . . . . . . . . . 

She can barely say his name, but that’s enough to get him crying again. She’s been through so much pain. So much agony, but…there’s a small smile on her face.

He shifts slightly and she cries out softly again. Every movement has her wincing, and he hates every second of it. But he can’t do anything about it. All he can do is get her back to the Marauder as quick as-

“So, the reports were wrong.”

Hunter stills, feeling the prickle in the back of his mind. There’s some woman behind him, and it feels like she has a pistol on him.

Hunter slowly turns around, stopping halfway so Omega’s profile is still hidden. Yep. Some Imp officer. One that looks familiar. Disregarding the pistol aimed at him, Hunter narrows his eyes. This is… “You’re Captain Bragg.”

He remembers that Imp. From the Raxus op.

Now he focuses on the pistol, as well as the sneer Bragg’s wearing. “Admiral Rampart believes you dead.” She narrows her eyes. “So here we are.”

Hunter humms, looking for a way out of this. “And where is the admiral?” She’s not going to answer, but the question will buy him enough time to think.

Hunter considers his options. There were too many regs; he was forced to take a detour through some narrow hallway filled with hissing equipment. Steam is everywhere. He could try and vanish into it, but Bragg could fire blindly and still kill Omega. 

He can’t take that chance. “If I stay with you, will you let her go?”

Bragg’s eyes narrow further and Hunter can see her slowly squeeze the trigger. He’s prepared to run for it; to try and see if he can get Omega to the hangar. All he needs to do is get her there, and she’ll be okay. 

He just-

Bragg’s comm beeps. “Captain.”

Bragg glances down for a second and Hunter backs up slightly. Crosshair? Here? Is he helping Omega? 

Crosshair commed Bragg moments before the captain fired. Hunter has to assume they're on the same side. And, right now? It doesn’t matter what their history is. Bracca; Kamino, none of it matters. Omega matters. 

Right now, Hunter’s trusting Crosshair more than he’s ever trusted anyone.

Bragg raises her comm, still levelling the blaster at Hunter. At Omega. “What is it, 9904?”

“Turn around.”

Hunter’s fought alongside Crosshair for years. He’s fought against Crosshair for months. He’s never heard his voice that ice-cold.

Neither has Bragg, apparently. She turns slightly, and Hunter reflexively whirls to shield Omega as a blaster fires.

He knows that sound. It’s Crosshair’s sniper rifle. And Bragg’s yelling in pain.

Hunter ducks as low as he dares and turns enough for the pistol half-hidden under Omega’s body to be aimed at Bragg, and he fires once.

The shot slams into Bragg; just above her heart. There’s this…surprised look on her face. Hunter straightens and turns so Omega’s not visible, just in case this isn’t over.

Bragg falls and Hunter backs up even more, keeping his eyes on that pistol. Then, when he looks up, he sees Crosshair’s profile vanishing into the steam. He’s gone. Again.

He’s torn. His priority is Omega, but Crosshair’s here, and Crosshair’s helping, what’s he supposed-

Bragg’s comm beeps again. “Get out of here, Hunter. Make sure she’s safe.”

Hunter nods and takes off running.

. . . . . . . . . . 

‘Tell them to come back! Order them to come back!’

‘We have to go back to Daro and rescue Hunter!’

‘It doesn’t matter. Saving Hunter is what matters.’

‘I’m sorry, Omega. I know I promised you’d never have to come back here.’

‘You did the same for me.’

‘You sure about this?’

‘I chose to stay here, Hunter. You are my family.’

‘Alright.’

‘Why is Omega hanging off the ship?’

‘Appreciate the backup. But try staying inside the ship next time.’

‘I’ll try. But it was still pretty fun.’

‘You coming?’

She doesn’t remember much. Whispered apologies from Hunter, she thinks. A blaster shot. Crosshair’s voice.

Then nothing.

When she finally comes to, there’s something…soft…pressing into her left shoulder. Wincing with every movement, Omega slowly brings her hand up and-

She collapses into sobs. It’s Lula.

It’s home.

Whatever her head is resting on shifts, and she tries to open her eyes, able to blearily focus on a dark figure with something red tied around its head.

She starts sobbing again. “Hunter…”

“Omega.” Gods, his voice. It’s so…soft, so…caring. 

So loving.

She’s aware enough now to realise her head is lying in Hunter’s lap and the rest of her body is on her bed. Her bed. She whimpers but manages to grab Lula, pulling her close. 

It’s uncomfortable, but she never wants to move. She never wants him to leave.

She’s home.

She’s home. 

All the tension washes out of her and she’s finally able to relax in Hunter’s arms. Her left arm like lead; she can’t wrap her arm around Hunter’s form like she wants to. Exhaustion creeps over her mind as she just stares at Hunter; at his smile. The tender way he’s holding her. 

She’s safe. 

She’s safe. 

For the first time in…however long it’s been, she’s able to fall asleep with a smile on her face.

. . . . . . . . . . 

“How is she?”

Hunter lifts his head and regards Wrecker, unable to hide his smile. Unwilling to hide his smile. “She’s sleeping,” he softly reports.

He hasn’t really been focusing on anything other than Omega for the past few minutes, but now he can see the rest of the squad is crowded around her room. He can see the blinking light of the holoprojector; it’ll be Rex wanting confirmation of his op.

Things were too hot escaping - Rex and Cody got out in an escape shuttle. They’ll synch back up soon. Hunter needs to thank Cody personally for this.

Omega moans and raises her head slightly. “Wrecker…”

And now Hunter thinks his brother is going to melt with how soft his face goes. “Hey, kid.” He’s trying his absolute hardest to be quiet. “How ya doing?”

Omega almost seems to brace herself before she wriggles closer to Hunter. “Tired…” she murmurs.

Hunter can feel the soft smile spreading across his face as he tenderly brushes some loose curls behind Omega’s ear. “We got you, kid.” He closes his eyes and finally relaxes. “We got you.”

It’s over.

“Tech, where we going?”

“Ord Mantell.” Tech’s also doing his very best to be near silent. Kinda funny. Echo’s the only real one, besides Hunter, who has any skill in stealth. Perk of ARC Training. But he’s apparently passed on what he knows because Hunter barely hears Tech.

Course, he’s also focusing most his attention on Omega, so he might be distracted.

Hunter nods. “Good. I know Cid was worried.” He opens his eyes and stares at Echo, who’s the furthest away. Looking at the cockpit rather than Omega’s room. He still feels guilty.

Hunter sighs. “Echo?”

The other three leave and Echo hesitantly enters Omega’s room, leaning against the wall. “It’s my fault, Hunter.”

Hunter sighs and adjusts Omega in his lap. Not this again. “Echo, it’s not.”

Echo narrows his eyes. “The pod fell a few seconds before I could get there. If I had been faster, maybe I could have helped her!”

Despite the tone in his words, it’s still nearly inaudible - and Hunter’s paying attention this time. He shakes his head. “The pod falling is outside our control. It just happened.” He glances down at Omega again. “I’m the one who didn’t let us go back. If I did, we could have maybe figured this out sooner.”

Despite everything, Echo can’t seem to see that this is outside his control. Hunter’s not sure what to say to get him to understand. “Part… part of being a soldier is taking risks.”

Echo scoffed. “She’s not a soldier, Hunter. She’s a kid.”

Oh, so now their positions are reversed. Still, Hunter understands. “I know”

“Not your fault, Echo,” Omega mumbles sleepily from his arms. “I made the choice.”

Her words only seem to make Echo feel more guilty, if the look on his face is any indication. He glances at Omega before looking away, a heavy scowl settling over his features. 

Hunter sighs softly. They can deal with this later.

He takes a moment to listen to Omega. Her breathing’s deepened - hopefully she’s gone to sleep. “Once we reach Ord Mantell, we’ll figure all this out.”

Echo glances at him and does his best to fold his arms. “You still planning on leaving?”

Hunter glances down at Omega again. “I don’t know,” he admits. “I have to do what’s best for her.”

Whatever that is. 

He’s spent his entire life being a soldier. And he thought it was what he was meant to do. But the last six months - last eight months, really - have shown him that he’s more than a soldier. Omega needs someone to care for her and…he can’t do that while leading Clone Force 99. 

He failed Omega. He failed Omega by not going off the grid when they had the chance and he’s been failing her ever since. He knows he can’t protect her forever, but her being a part of this squad is only putting her at risk needlessly. 

He just…doesn’t know what to do. His entire identity was wrapped up in Clone Force 99. Do they just…leave? And do what? Go where? Would the others follow? 

Omega stirs slightly and Hunter forces all that out of his mind as he focuses on his daughter. His daughter. Doesn’t matter that she isn’t or that he’s technically her brother. He tried being her brother and all it caused her was pain. 

He watches the tiny crease in her forehead as she shifts her body slightly. Gods, what did they even do to her? He’s seen the full range of damage IT-O droids can inflict. He doesn’t know how long Omega was in there with that thing or how many times. 

There’s so much pain here, he doesn’t know how to even begin to fix this. 

Omega lets out a quiet moan and sleepily opens her eyes to look at him. “D-Dad?”

It was their old joke; now it’s their reality. Hunter smiles at her. “Yeah, kid?”

Omega wriggles closer, seemingly ignoring how her body flinches. “I love you.”

That breaks him. He can feel tears in his eyes. He swallows and looks at her. She has this…peaceful smile on her face. “I love you too.”

There are other things to figure out. Omega’s bow is still missing; Crosshair’s somewhere out there; Cody’s still inside the Empire; Rampart is still alive, and he’s sure Cid’s going to have some desperate op that needs to be done. And they can figure all that out.

Tomorrow.

Right now, they’re all safe. His squad and his daughter. And right now, that’s all he needs.

Chapter Text

Two Months Later:

. . . . . . . . . . 

She screams but the IT-O droid still moves forward, the point of the needle inching towards her. She tries to pull away but she can’t and it’s going to hurt but she can’t do anything about it and it hurts and it burns it burns she-

Omega gasps and curls in on herself, only relaxing when she feels the soft fur of Lula brush her skin. More confused than anything, she hesitantly opens her eyes - to see the curtain that separates her room from the rest of the ship.

She’s home.

Omega sighs and sits up in her bed, absently hugging Lula. She hates these nightmares. They feel so fucking real and it still hurts and she-

She rubs her eyes and tucks Lula under her arm as she stands. She’s not sleeping tonight. Not anymore.

It’s still the sleep cycle, so Omega tries to be as silent as possible as she slowly draws the curtain back. Six months ago, she would have confidently left her room to go stare at the stars or whatever, but Hunter in particular has become such a light sleeper since…

Since.

since he thought she was dead since she thought she was gonna die since she went through things that caused so much pain since-

Omega shakes her head and tries to force the memories back. She’s not there; she’s home. She’s still not even sure where ‘there’ was; she’s stopped anyone from ever talking about it when she’s nearby.

As silently as she can, Omega patters to the cockpit and sits down in the pilot’s chair, leaning back to watch the blue whirls of hyperspace. It’s the closest to peace she can get now, and they seem to be in hyperspace a lot. She’s hardly complaining, but they haven’t taken any missions since…

‘Contact the commander. Tell him we have eyes on another crate.’

She refocuses on the blue whirls. Sometimes - rarely, these days - hyperspace will lull her to sleep, and she really hopes this will be one of those times. Last thing she wants is for Hunter to call out her not-sleeping by dark circles or whatever. 

Omega slouches down and holds Lula to her chest, hugging her tightly. Her toy is the best reminder she has that she’s not there anymore. 

She hates how often she needs the reminder.

She jumps as someone sits down in the copilot’s seat. “Can’t sleep?”

Omega sighs and glares at her dad. So much for her being quiet… “Not really.”

Hunter doesn’t say anything else, so they just sit there in silence for a good while, just staring at the stars. It still surprises her sometimes how calming Hunter’s presence can be. It’s only a few minutes before she’s able to relax. “I hate these nightmares.”

“I know.”

His voice is taking on that soft quality she now mostly associates with when she first woke up after being rescued. It’s the voice that practically spells out for her ‘THIS IS MY DAD.’

It’s the voice that makes her feel safe.

Things have changed since she got back. Tech, Echo, and Wrecker all seem more quiet and check up on her more often. Something she probably should have expected. 

But Hunter…it’s like he’s leapt heart and soul into being a parent. Made sure he was always by her side when they stopped for supplies. Checked up on her through the night. Lying down with her when she has a nightmare and can’t sleep. 

He’s just…been there more. Sometimes trying to talk to her; sometimes not saying anything at all. But he’s there. 

It’s like he also no longer considers the ‘calling him dad’ joke to be a joke. It’s kinda embarrassing for her to admit, but she almost needs Hunter to be her dad. He isn’t; not really, but…it makes her feel safe. Like he can actually protect her from the Empire. 

Realising she spaced out, Omega turns the chair to face him. “I just… want it to stop.”

Hunter looks at her and his hands twitch, like he wants to hug her. “Omega, it’s only been two months.”

She’s aware. She could not be more fucking aware. And some days, she’s good. Some days she barely thinks about that prison. Some days, she’s normal.

Other days she can hardly focus because all she hears is the whirl of that IT-O droid or the Admiral’s voice or can feel the pain and the burning and the-

'I must admit, I am surprised you are even conscious.'

She whimpers and tries to hide tries to do anything but she can't because she's frozen and her arm hurts and soon every cell in her body is going to hurt she can't do this why can't she do anything she-

“Omega!”

She startles and almost jerks back when she sees Hunter’s face suddenly appear in front of her. Absently, she realises she’s on the ground and he’s kneeling next to her. Energy suddenly gone, she lets herself fall into his arms and tucks her head on his shoulder.

She hates this. Hates the sudden flashbacks and the panic attacks. Hates that she can’t fucking do anything to control them and-

Hunter’s arms wrap around her, making her feel safe, and his warm hand rubs slow circles into her back. Omega shuts her eyes and tries not to sigh. He’s being so patient even though she’s just useless right now. She doesn’t deserve comfort.

Her right arm twinges. 

Omega hisses and pulls away from Hunter, absently rubbing her right arm as she stands. Her injury’s healed, thanks to Tech and AZI, but it still hurts sometimes. She doesn’t know if it’ll affect her ability to use her bow because she doesn’t have her bow because she was too busy getting herself captured to take care of it.

Rex had taken over her firearm training after Kamino, and had once sternly told her that her weapon was her life. Seemed a bit grand for the captain and Echo had this…odd grin on his face. Like he was holding back from laughter, which is rare for him. 

She still doesn’t quite understand all that.

Point was, her energy bow is her life, and she lost it. Just like she nearly lost her actual life trying to prove to the squad that she’s not a liability.

The irony isn’t lost on her.

Omega grabs a cup of water from the cooling chamber and sits back down on the pilot’s seat. She remembers how, back before any of this, she and Hunter would sometimes spend those nights she couldn’t sleep in the cockpit and just point out star formations. They haven’t really done that since everything because usually the cockpit is reserved for her fucking panic attacks. 

She hates this.

Hunter’s not looking at her; he’s studying a datapad. And, sure, that’s probably him giving her space, but she also kinda wants him to talk to her. Just wants any distraction that gets her out of her own head.

Omega takes a sip of the cold water and leans closer to him. “What are you studying?”

He blinks and looks at her, a small smile appearing on his face. “Just figuring out where we’re going next.”

Omega nods. Since the prison, they haven’t taken any missions. They were preoccupied with…her healing for a while, but she’s good now! She can go back to active duty! She can do something; anything that’s not her just sitting in her room or studying with Tech.

She’s also scared. Because ops mean the Empire’s attention, and she knows the Admiral is still out there somewhere. She has no idea who he is; doesn’t want to know who he is, but he’s terrifying. 

Part of her wants to take a mission; part of her wants to go back to her room and never leave. 

She hugs Lula tighter. 

Swallowing, she refocuses on Hunter. “We meeting with Rex soon?”

Hunter stills. “I… actually don’t know where Rex is right now. Last I heard, he and Cody are trying to find more regs.”

Omega hums. She’s met Cody maybe twice since getting out. The first time, she barely recognised him. His armour was yellow instead of grey and that threw her off. Hunter’s reaction to it was a wide grin, so Omega assumes it was Cody’s colour before the Empire.

She hasn’t seen Crosshair since getting out, but Hunter told her he helped in their escape. She wants to thank him, but he’s vanished. That, or he’s still in the Empire. She can’t exactly ask him.

‘What have they done to you?’

Omega flinches and stares out the viewport at the whirls. If they could calm her, that’d be nice. 

They don’t.

Omega glances at Hunter, who’s back in his datapad. “Dad?”

She calls him that more than she used to. She still tries to frame it as a joke, but it’s hard to hide the simple fact that she absolutely means it and is absolutely true. Sometimes it is a joke; sometimes she does say it just to see that smile light up his face.

Sometimes she says it because she needs that reminder. It’s one thing to have brothers. She has thousands, and they’d all give their life for her in a second. Even if she isn’t worth it. 

But a dad…that’s someone who’s supposed to look out for you no matter what. No matter what you’ve done. Brothers can turn against you - like Crosshair. Dads don’t.

Hunter hums and turns to her, setting his datapad down. “Yeah, kid?”

‘Get up.’

She swallows. “I…I love you.”

‘Now.’

She…she tries to say that more, too. Says it to the whole squad, really. Because she does. She loves her brothers. 

But she can’t deny that saying it to her dad is somehow different.

Hunter’s smile is soft, warm. The best she can make of that is his smile is as though he has everything he’s ever wanted. “I love you too.”

How he says that…something warm always seems to bloom in Omega’s chest every time he does. She can’t help but smile back. Every so often, she’s transported back to that moment when she woke up in his arms, the first time she felt safe since…

Since.

While he’s distracted with Warm Dad Feelings, Omega leans forward and snatches his datapad, giggling at his indignant ‘hey!’. Like so often every time she steals Hunter’s datapad, she’s tempted to try and locate Shaeeah and Jek. They’re some of the only friends she’s ever had and she misses them.

But, wherever they are, not even Hunter knows. 

Sighing softly, she returns Hunter his datapad and stands. Really, she stole his datapad to check the time, and it’s about midway through the sleep cycle. She’s not tired; isn’t going to sleep no matter what, but if she stays up, Hunter will too. He’s important; she’s just a kid.

Hunter stands as well, and Omega wraps her arms around his waist. She’s a little taller, but her head really just reaches the middle of his chest. So hugs are kinda uncomfortable.

Hunter intercepts her arms and kneels on the floor, letting her hug him properly. Omega can’t deny that feeling of safety hugging Hunter seems to give. Kinda funny how much of a dad Hunter’s become in the past two months.

Hunter pulls away and offers her a smile. “I hope you can sleep,” he murmurs.

Omega does too.

He stands and, while he does, presses a gentle kiss to her forehead. It makes Omega smile. Another dad thing that somehow filled her with warmth.

She saw a parenting holobook on his datapad last time she stole it. Guess he’s putting it to good use.

Omega smiles at him again and goes back to her room. She might be a useless failed experiment that can’t even keep herself from getting captured by regs, but she’s loved. Maybe she doesn’t deserve to be, but she is.

She’s loved, and she loves them too.

Chapter Text

She’s not okay.

Hunter watches as the curtain to Omega’s room swishes shut and he sighs. The nights she stays in her room and gets decent sleep are far outweighed by the nights he finds her in the cockpit or screaming from a nightmare.

He hates it. He can’t help her and he doesn’t know what to do. 

He’s tried everything he can think of. Downloaded parenting holobooks, but none of them specify what to do when your kid’s been captured and tortured. The main thing the trauma recovery books say is to be there for her, but that's so very vague. 

Omega doesn’t want to talk about Tantiss. That is absolutely fine and Hunter cannot blame her. But, since she doesn't, he doesn’t know how to help. Those holobooks warn about psychological triggers and to avoid them, but he doesn’t know how to do that if he doesn’t know what to expect. 

He’s tried, subtly, to convince Omega to open up, but every single time, she just shuts down. Goes quiet and stares at the floor or curls up in a ball back in her room, Lula held close to her chest. 

It hurts to see her in pain, but…how can he help?

Something shifts in the darkness and Hunter leans back in his seat, trying to hide how tired he is. “What is it, Echo?”

The ARC appears, still dressed in full armour. Echo talks about his trauma about as much as Omega does, so exactly what the reg suffers from is still a mystery. All Hunter knows is sometimes Echo wears his full armour while others are in their blacks. His guess is the armour helps offset the stark fact that he’s missing a good portion of his body.

Echo has nightmares too. Usually about the Citadel, sometimes about missions he took with Fives. And Echo’s tried to talk to Omega about her nightmares, even sharing his, but she still refuses to say anything, even knowing about Echo’s past.

Hunter still can’t blame her.

Echo sighs and sits down in the pilot’s seat. “She’s not okay,” he notes.

Hunter nods and resumes watching Omega’s curtain. Knowing his daughter, she’s not going to be sleeping, but she’s going to surround herself with Lula and her trooper in an attempt to keep from having a nightmare or something. Because she doesn’t want to bother him. 

Tantiss destroyed her self-confidence. She’s convinced herself that she’s a burden on him; on the squad, and nothing Hunter says convinces her otherwise. All she sees is herself being so useless she got herself captured by regs who weren’t even looking for her. 

Tantiss destroyed a lot. She’s…scared easier. Sometimes she’ll just be staring at nothing and this…dark look will pass over her eyes, or she’ll curl in on herself. She’ll go quiet, or her right arm will start hurting. 

They’ve learned that Omega going quiet is nearly always a sign that she’s thinking about Tantiss. So they do what they can to distract her. Tech will work with her on studying the ships in the Imperial Fleet, Echo will sometimes regale her with stories about his ARC missions, Wrecker will teach her how to unarm bombs, and Hunter’s finally getting around to teaching her how to spin a knife. 

Two months in, they’ve sorta established a working system for the daytime. Nighttime is a whole different story. 

The problem with clones - both regs and the 99 - is that they are all self-dependent. They don’t like others handling their problems. They don’t like asking for help. He’d rather do a task himself than ask for help.

He didn’t think all that applied to Omega too.

More often than not, she’ll wake up thrashing from a nightmare. In the beginning, it used to be screaming too, but she’s…tried to be quieter, since she realised he’s listening for her. 

She’s shutting down so her nightmares don’t affect him, and he hates it. He’s asked her before to wake him up if she has a nightmare, but she’s never done that. She probably won’t ever do that.

She doesn’t like asking for help either. 

The nightmares are just one thing. The worst are the flashbacks. 

Hunter knows Omega was tortured at least once. It’s what he rescued her from. But the way she screams; begs some officer - he’s pretty sure it’s Admiral Rampart - to leave her alone; just let her die, it breaks his heart. The entire squad knows about it; they all hate it; they’re all powerless to help.

All Hunter can do is remind Omega that she’s loved; that the squad loves her; that he loves her, as often as he can. 

Hunter looks over at Echo. “I’m not sure what to do,” he admits. “She’s dealing with something I’ve never experienced.”

Echo grunts. “I’ve tried to talk to her.” A faint shudder jolts his body. “I know what she’s going through.” He sighs. “She knows it; I think that’s why she won’t talk to me.”

Hunter turns to the control panel. Really, Omega dodges everyone when the topic turns to her mental state. Tech will sometimes ask her a seemingly-innocuous question about how humans process events, intending to loop that into how Omega’s doing, and she’ll just go dead silent. Wrecker’s the only one to outright ask her, but she has yet to answer. 

He’s worried. Her nightmares don’t seem to be getting better; she’s just getting better at hiding them. When happens when she’s gotten so good at hiding, that he thinks she’s better? 

Omega likes to call him her dad. That joke between them has changed since Tantiss. She calls him that more now, often in quiet moments. That’s how he knows their changed relationship is something she needs. 

But if she calls him her dad then, logically, that makes her his daughter. His kid. Really, they should just leave being mercenaries behind and try to live a quiet life. 

That’s what she needs. It was his original thought after leaving Kamino the first time, and he wonders if they should have stuck to that. But they inadvertently managed to free Crosshair from his inhibitor chip so…he doesn’t know. 

For Omega to live a safe life, they need to leave being mercenaries; being soldiers behind. And that’s the plan, but…they owe Crosshair. They need to find him. 

He just…has no idea how to do that.

The comm beeping draws his attention, and Hunter turns away from Omega’s room to answer it. Comm signal is stronger when not in hyperspace, so he drops them out of it. When Rex appears, Hunter glances at Echo. “Captain.”

Rex sighs. “We got a problem.”

Echo shifts forward. “What’s going on, Rex?”

The reg looks away, conferring with someone else - probably Cody. A few moments later, Rex turns back to them. “There’s a former Separatist world that’s resisting Imperial Occupation.” He visibly hesitates before continuing. “Crosshair was sent in, and now he’s captured.”

Hunter frowns. That was easier than expected, but Crosshair getting captured? That doesn’t seem right. “Crosshair’s captured? Were there any ES units with him?”

Rex shakes his head. “No. Seems Crosshair was sent in under the command of CC-1126. Crosshair’s the only survivor.”

Hunter can hear the annoyance in Rex’s voice over having to say the reg’s number. The Empire’s done away with clone names, so they have no idea who this reg even is. Just 1126.

Hunter quickly connects the dots. Crosshair was at Tantiss when Omega was rescued. Crosshair assisted Hunter, leading to the death of Captain Bragg. With Commander Cody gone, Crosshair, as a commander, would be the highest ranking officer and thus responsible. So he was probably demoted to 1126’s squad.

Hunter doesn’t have to think about his decision. Crosshair gave up everything to rescue Omega. “What’s the planet?”

“Desik. Initial reports indicate there’s a large amount of battle droids as well.” Rex looks away again. “Cody and I will meet you there.”

“Hunter.” Echo leaned forward. “What about Omega? We can’t-”

Hunter nods. “I know.” He turns back to Rex. “Captain, Omega’s not in any state to handle a mission. If we go, she needs to-”

“I’m going.”

Hunter frowns and turns around to see Omega standing behind him. She’s swathed in a massive purple blanket Wrecker got for her - somehow the softest thing Hunter’s ever touched - and she’s clutching Lula. There’s a hint of fear on her face, but also determination. “Kid, we-”

Omega ignores him and continues facing Rex. “We’ll get Crosshair out.”

“Omega, we can-”

Omega’s eyes narrow. “I’m fine, Rex. I’m not a liability.” Now she turns and looks at him, a pleading look on her face. “Hunter, please. As my dad, I’m begging you. I need to do this.”

Hunter sighs and runs a hand over his face. She’s manipulating him; he knows that. ‘As my dad’. That’s just her using their relationship to get what she wants. 

It’s working.

He shouldn’t have said what he did. About Omega not being up to this. She would have taken that as a challenge, or it would have confirmed her fear of being a burden. She wants to convince herself that she’s fine, and his words will have sparked a way for her to prove that to herself.

Reluctantly, he looks at her. “You stay beside me the entire time and do exactly what I say.” He sighs again. “I don’t like this, but I trust you.”

The answering smile he gets for that is almost enough to make him forget why these restrictions are here in the first place. Almost. He still thinks this is a bad idea and he’d much rather send her with Wrecker, but she pulled the dad card. He’s not sure she’d stick with Wrecker anyway.

Hunter turns back to Rex. The captain looks as stressed as he feels, and Hunter knows both Rex and Cody feel some level of responsibility for what happened to Omega. 

Cody makes sense. He was there throughout all of Omega’s captivity and, from what Cody’s shared, was unable to help her because of his chip. 

Rex is a little more complicated. From what Hunter understands, Rex assumed Omega was dead like the rest of them, and when they found out she was alive, it brought back memories of Echo. 

With Omega’s insistence, there’s really only one answer Hunter can give. “We’ll be there, captain.”

His image nods and vanishes, and then suddenly Echo’s gone too. And that’s when Omega sits next to him for the second time that night. “I’ll be fine, Hunter.”

Will she be? This is going to be her first mission since Tantiss. She doesn’t have her bow; doesn’t have any real armour, and he’s about to send her back into Imperial patrols. 

No, this is a bad idea. 

He turns back and looks at his daughter. “You are absolutely sure you can do this?”

It takes a second, but she nods. “I have to do this.”

Not an especially convincing answer, but if she’s truly determined, she’ll sneak out to join them on the op. He’d much rather control how she proceeds. 

Hunter nods back and detaches the magnetically-held knife sheath on his forearm. He offers it sheath first to Omega. “Use this if you have to.”

She just stares at the sheath for a moment. “Hunter, I-”

He shakes his head. “Take it.” He waits until she does. “Use it if you have to,” he repeats.

Omega takes the knife and just looks at it for a moment before sliding it into her pocket. He’ll have to make sure she has it on her when they arrive. Hunter offers her a tiny smile and turns to begin typing in coordinates for Desik.

Once he’s done, he reaches for the hyperdrive control panel and pauses, casting one more look at Omega. “You sure about this.”

She nods. “Yes.”

Hunter lets out a slow breath. “All right then.” He pulls the lever for hyperspace and leans back in his seat. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

Omega nervously taps her thigh holster. She still doesn’t have her bow, so she instead has a DC-17 pistol holstered on her side and Hunter’s knife at the small of her back. She’d like to think she’s prepared for anything. 

Her dad catches the movement and Omega waves him away. It’s a tiny bit frustrating, really. Hunter’s hovering more than he’s ever before. It wasn’t even this bad after she was captured by Bane! 

Granted, she hadn’t been tortured by the Empire then, so this is probably warranted. And she knew this was how Hunter was going to act when she forced them to take this mission.

It’s how he shows love, she reminds herself. He loves me and wants to protect me. 

Outside of the annoyance, she’s grateful. As long as Hunter’s beside her, she isn’t going to be captured. 

Hunter holds a tightly closed fist up close to his head and Omega freezes. Silently, he passes her a pair of macrobinoculars. “.75,” he whispers.

Omega takes the binocs and slowly zooms in until she can see Echo and Tech silently infiltrate the compound. Wrecker’s on overwatch and he’s already taken down two commando droids.

She and Hunter are staying back as reinforcements. They need someone to cover the squad.

That’s the official explanation, but Omega knows it’s just an excuse to keep her away from the action. And Hunter’s with her because…honestly she wouldn’t feel as safe with anyone else. 

The others are needed for their missions. Rex and Cody are at their staging area to keep it secure, but Omega wouldn’t be comfortable with them. She still…she sees Cody, and it’s like she’s-

‘Commander Cody, go wait outside.’

Omega squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head, trying to get rid of the Admiral’s voice. If she has a flashback or panic attack now, Hunter’s never going to let her out in the field again.

She tries to control her breathing as she hands the binocs back to Hunter, hoping he’d use them and not see her. Instead, he tucks the binocs back into his pack and, even through his helmet, Omega can see the frown. “You alright?”

No.

“Yep,” she answers firmly, hoping to avoid this conversation. She’s fine. She’s fine, she’s fine. 

Her right arm hurts.

To try and provide a distraction for herself, Omega pulls her pistol out of its holster and inspects it. It’s one of Hunter’s, so it’s reliable.

She’d still rather have her bow.

Hunter whistles softly and Omega focuses, turning to watch his helmet. He’s pulled the binocs back out. Something’s happening.  After a few seconds, he puts the binocs away and tilts his head towards her. “They’re in,” he whispers. 

Omega nods and ducks down to lie on the ground, crawling her way forward until she’s squished next to Hunter’s figure. He responds by wrapping an arm around her shoulders, and for the first time on this entire mission, Omega feels safe. Secure. Like nothing can hurt her. With her dad beside her, she’s safe.

Except from Bane.

‘She’s with us. She’s not going anywhere.’

Omega swallows and tries to banish the image of Hunter on the ground, a smoking hole in his chestplate. Bora Vio and Bane still haunt her nightmares, but Omega doesn’t want to burden Hunter any more than she already is. He deserves to have a daughter who’s not traumatised by everything all at once. 

‘That’s unfortunate. For you.’

‘Hunter!’

Abruptly, Omega stands and walks away slightly. She knows Hunter’s going to ask what’s wrong, and he’s not going to take silence for an answer, but that’s preferable to having a panic attack right here, right now, which is usually what happens anytime she thinks about Bane too much.

‘By hook or by crook.’

They’re fortunate to be this far away from the action; means Omega can freak out without compromising the mission. But that would be putting a burden on Hunter. She has to get it together. 

She’s mostly pulled together when their comm crackles to life. That alone is enough to fully snap Omega from her thoughts as Tech’s voice sounds. “Hunter, we have a problem.”

Lightning fast, Hunter snatches the comm. “What is it?”

It has to be really bad to break radio silence. Omega shifts closer to Hunter, anxiously tapping her holstered pistol. This is how it went last time. Them all separated, and then suddenly she’s alone and hurt and-

Omega shakes her head and refocuses “-ter us.”

Hunter growls and rises to a knee, raising the binocs back to his helmet. Omega’s not sure what’s going on; she only caught the last part of Tech’s message. But Hunter knows what to look for, and he’s only on a knee for a moment before standing. “On our way.”

He turns to Omega, and even through his helmet, Omega can see the pensive frown he’s wearing. “What?”

Hunter’s still another second before sighing. “Stay close.”

. . . . . . . . . . 

She does try to stay as close to Hunter as she can as they make their way towards the facility. There are alarms blaring and firefights between the Empire and the droids, but nothing’s coming to them, so they must still have the element of surprise.

Things are too chaotic. There’s blaster fire and the whirl of clankers sound too much like the IT-O droid and it…

She shouldn’t be here.

Hunter can clearly tell she’s scared. He keeps on glancing back at her, but Omega waves him away. The mission comes first. Crosshair comes first. From everything she doesn’t want to hear, he risked everything for her. She’s ready to do the same for him.

They make it to a stone stairway, and Omega frowns at the shiny reflector on the wall. One of Crosshair’s, so he’s hopefully close. They can-

“Hunter!” It’s Echo. “Tac droid’s near your position!” Blaster fire sounds over the comms. “We’re pinned down by commandos!”

“Copy,” Hunter whispers. He glances back at Omega and she impatiently waves him on. They don’t have time for this. She crouches and gets ready for Hunter to do his thing.

Hunter pauses for one more second before rolling into the bell tower. Omega peers around the corner to watch as he decapitates a commando droid and uses its metal body as a shield while firing at the other droids. She stays back, knowing full well that she’s a liability, not an asset.

The tactical droid gets a knife to its head and Omega only appears at the top once the room is clear. No Crosshair, no governors.

Hunter sighs. “Let’s move.”

. . . . . . . . . . 

As soon as they step out into the courtyard, Hunter’s comm beeps. “Figured you’d show up.”

They both freeze and Omega snatches the comlink off Hunter’s belt. “Crosshair!”

“Kid’s still alive. So you haven’t screwed everything up.”

“Where are you?” Hunter’s using his helmet comm and Omega ignores the feedback on his physical one. “How’d you get out?”

“Like any clanker could keep me prisoner.” Crosshair sounds almost offended. “Just needed to wait.”

“For what?” Omega glances at Hunter, who shrugs. “For us?”

“You were right in the end.” There’s a hint of a smile in Crosshair’s voice. A bitter smile, probably. “I was just a number to them.” He scoffs. “At least you tried to come back.”

That answers her question about if he was actually in that prison after she was…

Omega shakes her head and refocuses on the comm. “Where are you?”

“Around.” His voice slips from almost playful to serious in a heartbeat. “Hunter, there’s a shuttle inbound. Pretty sure I know who’s on it. We need to get out of here.”

Hunter stares at the comm in her hands for a long moment. “We?”

“I’m assuming the code to get in to the Marauder is the same as before?” Crosshair’s silent for a moment before huffing a laugh. “Some things never change.”

Omega nudges Hunter’s arm and she nods. Crosshair risked his life for her. She’s ready to believe he’s on their side and not playing his own game. It takes another moment, but Hunter eventually nods back and grabs his comm back from her.

It’s not even a minute later that Omega’s comm beeps. Hunter must have looped the whole squad in. “Back to the ship. We’ve accomplished our mission.”

Omega grins and falls into step behind Hunter  All they have to do now is sneak out of the base and-

Sudden blaster fire peppers their position, but Omega’s more startled when Hunter fully picks her up and moves her behind cover. She unholsters her pistol and tries to pop up to get a bead on the shooter, but Hunter’s hand is on her shoulder, keeping her down. He shakes his head and flashes something with his free hand. 

Omega wracks her brain. She’s been going over the various hand signals the squad uses, but between the hand signals for plans and orders, and the ARC signs Echo’s been teaching her, there are just too many possibilities. He repeats the signal a few more times before she gets it. Stay back. Wait for gap. 

Waiting. Great. She doesn’t even know if these are TK troopers or clankers. How do you get past the Empire? They-

“CT-9936.” The loudspeaker crackles to life but Omega’s not focused on that. She knows that voice. It’s him. “You are surrounded. But if you leave C-02 where it is, you can walk away alive.”

She can’t breathe. She can’t breathe! All she sees is him as he orders the black troopers to take her out of her cell and they’re going to hurt her and she can’t stop them Hunter’s yelling something but she can’t hear she can barely see she-

She’s dimly aware that they’re moving: Hunter has one hand on her shoulder as he hides her entire profile behind him, and she can hear shooting. Crosshair’s rifle, she thinks. The TK troopers are firing back and a bolt singes the wall close to her but she’s not focused on that she can’t be focused on that she can hardly focus on anything she can barely walk but Hunter needs her to walk so she’s going to walk even though she still can’t breathe and-

The next thing she’s aware of is the rumble of a ship taking off. She keeps her eyes closed and tries to think. There’s this…ringing in her ears and she feels dizzy. She opens her eyes and stares at black cushions from two inches away. They’re blurry. From a thousand klicks away, she can hear what sounds like a reg’s voice. There’s some weight on her right shoulder. What is-

Her right arm twinges. 

No. No no no. She can’t be-she-Hunter was right-

hunter cant help anymore youre on your own whatre you going to do you cant-

She can. Because she can feel the handle of the knife Hunter gave her digging into her back. She just has to-

This ship shudders as it jumps to hyperspace and Omega makes her move. She rolls away from whatever she was lying on and grabs for her knife, blindly slicing forward. Her slice is intercepted and she’s able to focus right as-

She drops the knife in shock. It’s Hunter. He has her arm out to the side and a worried look on his face. Omega squeezes her eyes shut and drops to the ground, letting her head fall against his shoulder. It’s not as comfortable with his armour on, but it’s him. It’s him and she thought it was a reg. She almost stabbed him.

She’s a liability. This mission made that clear. She’s just going to end up getting the squad killed. 

Hunter picks her up in his arms and she’s just…she’s too tired. She can’t deal with this right now. 

Look how worthless you are. This was supposed to be an easy op and you fucked it up. You’re not one of them.

She can’t…she can’t refute that voice. Not anymore. 

Not after today.

Chapter Text

Kid’s practically knocked out. 

Hunter rubs slow circles across Omega’s back, trying to lull her to sleep. He knew that taking the kid with them on the mission was a bad call, but what other options were there? Let her stay back on the ship?

No. He can’t…last time he and Omega separated…

Hunter adjusts the hopefully-sleeping Omega in his arms and slowly carries her towards her room. They pass Echo and Wrecker, who are looking worried as they watch, and they pass Crosshair; half out of his Imperial armour, watching her with a slightly raised eyebrow. He doesn’t look worried, which makes Hunter wonder what Crosshair saw while Omega was held prisoner.

Hunter’ll have to debrief Crosshair on what exactly happened on Tantiss.

Gently, he lays Omega down on her bed and just sits with her for a moment. She’s not asleep; her breathing is too fast. After a short while, one of Omega’s eyes open and she inspects him. “‘m sorry for ruining the mission.”

Hunter frowns lightly and he looks down at her. She’s trying to curl up in a ball, looking away towards the viewport. Like she’s ashamed. 

Gently, Hunter touches her shoulder. “Omega. What happened back there wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes, it is.” She shifts so she’s sitting on the bed before drawing her knees up and resting her chin on them. “I wanted to be useful and instead I almost got you killed.”

Two months. Two months since Tantiss, and Omega wants to act like it never happened. She’s pretending like she’s perfectly fine and can do everything she used to. 

Hunter knows that isn’t how these things work. For as capable as Echo is, there are still things he can’t do. Any jolt of electricity sends him right back to Skako Minor. There are some moments - fewer now, all these months later - that he’ll forget he only has one hand. Before everything fell apart, Hunter had been in contact with General Skywalker, trying to get Echo a new hand. Since General Skywalker is now dead and the squad is AWOL, that hasn’t happened. 

Echo has occasional flashbacks, panic attacks, just days of straight-up depression as he tries to process everything he’s lost. And if Echo, an ARC Trooper who has more combat experience than anyone on his squad and has seen the worst of the War - and the worst of beings in general - still struggles, there’s no way Omega can be recovered after only two months of Hunter’s shitty parenting. 

Hunter sighs and looks away. “Omega… it wasn’t your fault.” He looks down at the ground. “It’s mine. I never should have put you in that position.”

She nearly died. What about the next time? Or when a mission eventually goes bad? What about when the next Daro happens? She’ll die for nothing. 

Today’s just reinforced something he’s been thinking about for a while.

Hunter slowly breathes out. Time for them to retire. “We can’t… do this anymore.”

Omega stiffens and Hunter glances at her…to see tears welling up in her eyes. Her breaths are coming in gasps and she looks…terrified. “Omega?”

Omega lurches at him and buries her face into his chest, wrapping her arms around him as tight as she can. “I’m sorry please don’t get rid of me I love you don’t leave!”

Hunter’s eyes widen as he works out what Omega was thinking, and he shifts so he can hug her back. Kid’s greatest fear is being alone, and it makes sense she’d take his words as abandonment. 

“You’re stuck with us, kiddo.” Hunter starts rubbing his hand up and down Omega’s back to try and calm her. “I’m not giving you up.”

Omega pulls away at that, wiping her eyes and glaring at the wall behind him. “You don’t know that.”

“Course I do.” Now Hunter pulls back, smiling gently at her. “You chose me to be your dad. You’re my daughter; it’s my job to take care of you.” He looks away for a second and his smile falters slightly. “We’re done taking missions, Omega. That’s what I meant.”

Omega’s eyes widen and there’s disbelief written all over her face. “We’re…what?”

Hunter nods, fixing his smile back into place. “We’re done being soldiers, Omega.” This is the right call. Their luck ran out on Serenno. Staying mercenaries will only get one or all of them killed. “We’re done.”

Something dark crosses Omega’s face before she yawns and rubs her eyes, and when she relaxes again, it’s gone. Hunter wonders if he just imagined it. “You okay?”

Another something flickers across Omega’s face before she nods. “Yes.” There’s a wave of determination in her voice that wasn’t there before. He wonders what she’s thinking, but he knows she won’t answer him if she asks.

Hunter resists the urge to sigh. His greatest fear is messing the kid up worse than Tantiss, and he has no real way of knowing how he’s doing. “Okay then.”

He begins to stand, but Omega’s hand wraps around his wrist and he looks back to see open fear in her eyes. “Can… can you stay with me?” He swears there’s a tiny tremble in her voice. “Just… just until I fall asleep?”

Hunter smiles at her and sits back on her bed, watching as she busies herself with wrapping that massive purple blanket around her body and settling down on her bed. 

His smile falters as he watches her. Something’s changed in the past few minutes. Before, she was quiet and somewhat-shaken. Now she’s…nervous. Anxious. Waiting for something to happen and dreading every moment of it. 

Omega curls up, turning her body to face the viewport, and Hunter slowly stands. He stretches and then turns to her. “Omega?”

She turns her head to look at him. “I’m fine, Hunter.” He’s not sure he believes that. Something’s bothering the kid, but she’s not sharing. And she won’t share even if he asks her to. 

Reluctantly, Hunter nods, bending down to press a gentle kiss to her forehead. Something tactile; show her she’s loved. There’s a tiny smile on her face, so hopefully it’s working. 

Hunter smiles at her and backs away. “Sleep tight, Omega.”

He turns away from her room and the smile slips off his face. He’s been avoiding processing the mission in favour of helping his daughter, but she’s good now. 

Now he needs to figure out what went wrong and how to keep it from happening again.

The moment Rampart’s voice sounded over the comms, Omega was essentially gone. Hunter doesn’t know if it was a panic attack or if her brain just shut down. She was at least lucid enough to walk by herself. 

Still, they wouldn’t have gotten out of there if Crosshair hadn’t shown up to clear a path. And once they were out of the city, Hunter was able to pick Omega up and sprint to the Marauder. 

“How touching.”

Hunter glances at the cockpit to see Crosshair leaning on the nav table. He has a small smile on, and Hunter finds himself relaxing. It’s not hard. After Tantiss, it’s almost easy. Hunter nods and sits down in the pilot’s seat, turning to face Crosshair. “Thank you. For everything.”

The sniper shrugs. “Kid could have left me for dead on Kamino. It would have been justified.” He shifts something in his hands, and Hunter looks down to see Crosshair’s imperial helmet. Crosshair sighs. “She’s more forgiving than the rest of your squad.”

There’s a hint of bitterness there, but Hunter can’t blame Crosshair. “Things will settle soon.” He smiles. “I know Wrecker’s missed you.”

“Goodie.” Crosshair rolls his eyes, but the motion is at least half-dramatics. That’s usually how it goes with Crosshair. He cares about them, but you have to look pretty deep to see it. Most don’t bother. Hunter knows otherwise.

Hunter scows at the floor. Something about that op… “Why does Rampart want Omega?”

Crosshair sets his helmet on the table and folds his arms. “Nala Se is on Wayland,” he reveals. “The kid was sent there to control her.”

Okay. That sorta makes sense. But, “why torture her?”

“To draw you in; to see what me and Cody would do.” Crosshair scoffs. “Rampart didn’t share.”

If Rampart wants Omega back to keep the Kaminoan scientists in line, then he’ll come for her eventually. They have to be ready.

Hunter stands and steps to the side, towards the bunks. “We… still have your armour,” he reveals. “Managed to grab it when we left Kamino the first time.” He kneels down and opens a crate, pulling out Crosshair’s old helmet a moment later. Standing, he offers it to Crosshair. “If you still want it.”

. . . . . . . . . . 

Rex folds his arms. “I don’t like this.” 

Hunter sighs. The others are, more-or-less, on board with their ‘go off the grid’ plan. Hunter honestly thought he’d get the most resistance from Crosshair, but the sniper backed him up in a second. Echo was the one who was resistant. 

Echo glances at the hologram of his old captain and nods. “I agree. It’s too risky.”

“What’s risky is letting the kid go on missions where she could be captured again.” Crosshair, now in his old armour, folds his arms. “You want to protect that kid? Let her go.”

Hunter shakes his head. “Not an option.”

Crosshair glances at him; a tiny smile at the corner of his mouth. “Didn’t think so. But you can’t have this both ways, Hunter.”

No, maybe not, but he honestly can’t see another solution. If they go hide, the others will eventually leave. If they stay and fight, they’ll all be killed one day.

“I might have a solution.” Tech activates a holopad, and the picture of some planet appears. “This is Ryloth. It is far enough from the Empire to stand a good chance at hiding Omega, and it is also in the middle of a war. Our squad could be an asset to the fight while also protecting Omega.”

The ship is silent. Hunter glances at the closed curtain of Omega’s room and thinks. It’s not a bad plan. Ryloth is in the Outer Rim and has enough deserted locations to allow them to vanish if need be. There is a war going on that they can help with - Echo is going to be pleased. 

Not to mention, that kid Syndulla’s on Ryloth. As he recalls, she and Omega parted as friends, and Omega needs all the friends she can get. With Shaeeah and Jek gone, Syndulla will have to do.

Hunter turns to the holoprojected image of Rex. “Tech’s right. We can help the Twi’leks on Ryloth.” He glances at his squad. “Omega won’t just sit back and do nothing anyway. This way, she can still help.”

Rex folds his arms. “If your squad gets involved on Ryloth, there’s a chance the Twi’leks could free their planet. If that happens, the Empire will notice.”

He knows. It’s a dangerous game they’re playing, but this is the best path for Omega. She can learn and grow without worrying about stumbling onto the Empire on some mission. 

He hopes.

. . . . . . . . . . 

“Are you sure about this?”

Hunter turns his head to the side to regard Crosshair. “Sure I’m sure.” He turns back to the whirls of hyperspace. “Why?”

Crosshair is silent for a long moment before sitting down in the co-pilot’s chair. “The kid is important to the Empire. They will come after her.”

Hunter glances at him. “Anything specific?”

“Rampart didn’t run Tantiss.” Crosshair folds his arms. “This goes further than that.”

Meaning they have no idea what to expect. 

Hunter turns his chair to fully face Crosshair. “Protecting that kid is all that matters. I…I couldn’t do it alone.” He shrugs. “We never would have made it off Tantiss without you.” Leaning forward, he extends a hand to Crosshair. “Whatever we’re going to do, we have to do it together.”

Crosshair just stares at his hand for a moment before firmly clasping his forearm. “Together.”

Chapter Text

Nobody tells her anything.

Omega glares out the viewport and tries to curb her annoyance. They’ve been in hyperspace for three days and Omega still has no idea why. And nobody talks to her about it. Echo’s looking frustrated; Tech’s going over some new data; Wrecker’s lifting Gonky; Crosshair’s Crosshair, and her dad just…gives her this smile. Like he’s anticipating some reaction from her. Like he’s excited. 

If she only knew why!

They’re going somewhere; that much is obvious. But Desix to Ord Mantell isn’t that long of a jump; they should have been there by now. Which means they’re going somewhere else. 

But, she doesn’t know. Nooo. Why would anyone let Omega in on the secret? Not like she’s part of the squad or anything.

Is she?

Ever since Hunter’s decision after that op she fucked up, she’s been wondering about her place in all this. Not only was she so useless she got herself captured by regs who weren’t even looking for her, now she’s fucking up simple extraction missions because of a fucking loudspeaker. 

She’s fucked things up so badly, Hunter decided to retire. To protect her. 

Gods, what a waste of time. Hunter’s just using precious resources to care for a worthless failed experiment. 

What does…what does she bring to the table? Panic attacks? Flashbacks; an inability to not be captured by the Empire? Trauma?

She’s worthless and she can’t figure out why Hunter still lets her on the Marauder. If he wants an actually relaxed ship for once, the smart thing to do would be to ditch her on some random planet and-

Is that…is that what they’re doing?

Omega shakes her head and tries to relax. Of course, they’re not going to do that. It was just a few days ago that Hunter reaffirmed that she’s his daughter and that she’s a part of the squad. He wouldn’t say that and then reverse it. He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t. 

But they’re taking her to a planet none of them will talk about…

No. No! He won’t! Because Hunter is her dad and he wouldn’t abandon her the first chance he got!

How do you know?

Omega slumps back down onto her bed. That’s the honest truth; she doesn’t. She has no idea what’s about to happen, and that terrifies her. A part of her knows that, if she said any of this to Hunter, he’d instantly let her know what’s going on because he’d feel guilty, but…she’s scared of that too. What if it is them abandoning her? What if this is it?

She doesn’t want that confirmation. She’s scared that she’ll be proven wrong; that this bond she has with Hunter is only for when she’s capable of acting like a normal being instead of a traumatised experiment. If they’re going to abandon her, she’d rather not know.

Omega swallows and pulls Lula closer to her chest. Crosshair’s back; what if they’re taking his advice? ‘You want to protect the kid? Then let her go! Stop pretending to be something you’re not, Hunter.’

She heard that. She heard the entire conversation, including Hunter’s ‘Omega belongs with us’. It made her smile; made her relax in the face of that black trooper, but she has no idea if he still feels the same. Kamino was before she got captured, after all.

Omega squeezes Lula tight in an attempt to calm down. Hunter wouldn’t go to the lengths of calling her his daughter if he was just going to abandon her. For all their jokes before, that relationship between them only became real after she was captured. Hunter’s her dad. She knows that. She knows that.

She forces herself to breathe. She’s fine. She’s not going to be abandoned. Hunter’s probably never even thought of her as worthless. She’s fine. They’re fine. Everything’s going to be fine.

She takes a few moments to collect herself before sliding off her bed. She still can’t bring herself to leave Lula behind, so she tucks her under her arm. She hesitates before opening the curtain and curses herself. 

It’s just Hunter. Maybe Crosshair. This is the sleep cycle; everyone else is probably - hopefully - asleep. You can be yourself around them.

Except she has no idea who she is anymore. It was like…that prison created another Omega who was scared and jumped at everything. This Omega that fucking panics over hearing a voice over a loudspeaker. 

She glares at the curtain for another few seconds before - more hesitantly than she wants to admit - slowly opening it. Just like she thought, the ship’s quiet. There’s no one between her and the cockpit, where she can see someone moving. She’d bet her non-existent credits it’s Hunter.

As silently as she can, she patters over to the cockpit, hesitating before sitting down in the copilot’s chair. She makes sure she’s facing away from Hunter before speaking. “Where’re we going?”

“You’ll see.” Something in her gut coils at his response. His tone is light; teasing, but he’s also not sharing their destination. 

Stop getting worked up about this, she chastises herself. He’s not going to get rid of you; fucking get over it!

Omega picks at a loose thread on her sleep clothes - her old tunic and leggings from Kamino - and stares out the viewport. “How far away are we?”

Her tone is lifeless, and she knows he’ll pick up on that. “Few hours,” he answers, and she can hear the frown in his voice. “Omega…”

“I’m fine.” She tugs at that thread, punctuating her words. “I’m fine, Hunter.”

He’s quiet for a beat, and then suddenly her chair’s spinning and she has no choice but to face Hunter. His face is soft and concerned, and just looking at him is enough to make her want to cry. 

She doesn’t. She’s not a baby.

Hunter hesitates, then sighs softly. “Kiddo, what you went through-“

“Drop it, Hunter.” Her tone is cold instead of lifeless, but somehow she’s closer to crying than she was a moment ago. “Leave it alone.”

Her voice drops into a growl at the end, and it has Hunter nodding, his hands half-raised. He moves back to his chair, face falling slightly. 

Way to go. Asshole. He’s trying to be nice to you.

Omega sighs. She knows where he’s coming from, but she can’t. She can’t think about what happened. She’s barely hanging onto a thread, she can’t-

Hunter leans forward slightly. “If you ever want to talk about it…”

Something inside her snaps. “What the fuck do you want me to say?!” She whirls on Hunter and glares at him. No, further than glaring; she’s enraged and he’s her closest target. “A bunch of assholes fucking tortured me and now I can’t even sleep?! I hear a voice over a fucking loudspeaker and can’t move?! I can barely function now?!”

She turns away from him and glares at the viewport. “I have nightmares all the time! I can’t go a fucking night without one and they’ll never stop.” A hysterical laugh escapes her. “I’m useless on missions, I’m worthless to the squad; you’re probably one bad day from kicking me off the ship! I’ll be abandoned and left alone and I can’t fucking do anything about it!”

All energy leaves her body and she falls onto her knees on the floor. There are tears running down her cheeks, but she can’t remember crying. She can’t remember anything except for blinding rage and oh gods Hunter knows everything he’s going to kick her out he’s-

Warm arms circle her shaking shoulders and Omega can’t even think; she just buries her face into Hunter’s shoulder and cries. She practically crawls into his lap and he shifts to be more comfortable. 

One of his hands cups the back of her head and it makes her feel like a kid and he’s the parent, which is a little demeaning, but she’s also sobbing into his neck, so she can’t really complain. 

She just stays there and cries.

“I got you,” Hunter’s whispering comforts and it honestly makes her cry and cling to him harder. “Got you, kid. You’re not alone anymore.”

She tries to reign in the crying, but his free hand is rubbing warm circles on her back and she’s lost again. No one…no one’s ever treated her like this before. Nala Se, for all her twisted affection, treated her more like a lab rat than a kid, and…she never knew what it was like to be Jango’s kid. She idly wonders if Alpha ever had these experiences.

Not that she’d ever know.

Hunter sighs softly. “Omega, I promise you, you will never be alone again.”

She sniffs and squeezes her eyes tight. “You can’t promise that,” she whispers. She pulls away slightly; enough to see his face. “You promised I’d never be captured again too.”

Hunter’s face falls and that’s enough to get her crying again. She buries her face in his neck again. “I’m sorry,” she cries softly. “I don’t blame you.”

He stiffens slightly - meaning he doesn’t agree with that statement. Omega wants to tell him it’s not his fault but forming that into a sentence is hard. She’s exhausted and all this emotion isn’t helping. She needs to…this can’t be how it ends.

“Shh.” Hunter holds her a little tighter. “You’re not alone, Omega. We will never abandon you. I will never abandon you.”

She believes him. Mostly. Kinda. 

She just…she wants to vanish. Try and forget screaming at Hunter.

Her plan is to go to bed and get this shitty day over with, but actually moving takes more energy than she has. Hunter’s warm and his shoulder is soft. It’s really not hard to fall asleep. Can’t be comfortable for him though, because the next thing she knows, she’s being carried; her head against his chest as one of his hands is hooked under her knees and the other is supporting her back. 

She can hear his heart. It’s soothing. It’s steady. 

She’s not.

She’s gently laid down in her bed and Lula suddenly appears under her arm. She was dropped sometime after Omega exploded. She clutches Lula tight in her arms and opens her eyes to see Hunter sitting beside her, his hand slowly running up and down her back.

For the first time, it’s not relaxing. 

What did she just do? What the fuck did she just do? If she has any hope of staying with her family, the last thing she should be doing is telling Hunter all the different ways she’s broken. 

She’ll just end up pushing him away too. 

She’s done that to everyone else in her life. She somehow managed to fuck up being created, so she never met her dad or her brother. Then she was with Nala Se, but that was more like hell than she ever wants to admit. Lama Su only ever regarded her as an experiment in a tube. 

Hunter and Clone Force 99 are the first beings to ever treat her like she’s something valuable. And, maybe she was, before Serenno. 

Now they can’t see how ripped up and broken she really is, and once they figure that out…

She’ll be left alone. With no one. Again. 

She stays still until Hunter eventually stands up. Omega tries not to cry as he leaves her room, then she turns to face the viewport. She’s being a burden on him; on all of them. She could pretend not to be this ripped up, broken thing created by Serenno, but eventually, Hunter will realise she’s not who he wants her to be and he’ll…

This is exhausting. Not just today, but everything since Serenno. All that prison did was show her how worthless she really is. She doesn’t know how to fix it. She doesn’t know if she can fix it. Or if she can fix it before Hunter gives up on her. Before she pushes him away. 

That thought chases her as she silently cries herself to sleep. 

Chapter Text

He is, without a doubt, the worst father in the entire galaxy.

Hunter sighs and tilts his head to look at Omega. She’s sleeping now - hopefully peacefully - but he just…

He just pushed his fourteen-year-old daughter into basically screaming her pain at him.

Fuck him.

The way he understands this parenting thing: the one thing he’s not supposed to do is cause his kid more pain. And yet…

Here they were.

He lays back on Omega’s bed and runs her words through his head. He knows about her nightmares - does his best to wake up at the first whimper he hears. He knows about the panic attacks; the PTSD she feels every day. 

He didn’t know how she viewed herself.

‘I’m useless during missions and have no real talent to bring to the squad’

‘ I’m probably one bad day away from being abandoned and left alone and I can’t fucking do anything about it!’

He had an idea about how she viewed missions, but that fear of them abandoning her…

She either hid that well, or he’s just a bad dad. Probably a bit of both. Probably a lot of the latter.

“Hunter?”

He sighs again. It’s Tech, and he sounds reserved. Which is awesome, because the entire squad heard Omega falling apart because of Hunter’s shitty parenting. So he somehow has to deal with all that before the kid wakes up.

Kid’s practically claimed his chest as her pillow, so he can’t exactly look at Tech. “What?”

The question is nearly inaudible, and he still worries it’ll wake Omega up. Tech seems to understand though. “We are approaching Ryloth.”

He gives a tiny nod. “Copy.” At Tech’s silence, he gives himself a moment to think over what he’s about to propose. “I think it might be easier if just me and her go down first.”

“Oh?”

He nods again. The more he thinks it over, the more sense it makes. From everything he understands, Omega’s fear is that he will abandon her. That he will force her off the squad. And if he really is her dad, then that fear makes sense. So maybe he shows her how important she is to him. 

He owes her that much after what he just did.

“It’ll just be for a few days,” he informs Tech. “What I hear, Rex and Cody are inbound as well. Might be easier to sync up with them while she gets settled.”

He can hear the scowl on Tech’s face, so he chances it and raises his head. It’s more…like he’s pensive than disapproving. Hunter sighs. “Tech, please.” He nods his head towards Omega. “It’s my fault she’s thinking this way. I have to make it right.”

It takes a moment, but Tech eventually nods. He lifts a datapad up for Hunter to see. “Child psychology,” he explains. “You may find it useful.”

I’m useless during missions and have no real talent to bring to the squad’

He sighs again. “Yeah.”

. . . . . . . . . . 

“Where are we?”

Omega’s head is practically welded to the viewport; trying to take everything in. Hunter leans back in his chair and tries to anticipate her reaction. Ideally, once she realises the significance of Ryloth, she’ll light up. Hunter knows for a fact Omega considers the Syndulla kid a good friend. 

He waits until she turns back towards him to answer. “Ryloth.”

Omega’s face goes through a hundred different emotions at once and settles on…apprehension? Not what he expected. “Why are we here?”

Her tone is lifeless; like she already knows the answer and is just asking for confirmation. She almost seems to…fold in on herself. 

He doesn’t let his face show it, but he scowls. Did he actually just make things worse? He meant for this to be a surprise; to get her smiling for once, but it’s more like she’s scared. Terrified, really.

‘I’m probably one bad day away from being abandoned’

It clicks.

Almost automatically, Hunter moves from the chair and kneels in front of Omega so they’re eye level. Slowly and gently, he rests his hands on her shoulders. She’s doing her best not to look at him; her eyes staring down at the ground. Her lips are quivering and her shoulders are shaking like she’s two seconds away from crying.

Hunter pulls her into his arms, and she resists for all of two seconds before burying her face into his tunic. He can feel the silent sobs wracking her entire body. “You’re okay,” he whispers. He tucks stray curls back behind her ear and just holds her. “I got you.”

She’s still crying and he sighs. Great. His surprise just ends up hurting her. “I’m sorry,” he apologises. He stares out the viewport at Ryloth. “This is supposed to be a fresh start,” he tells her, “for both of us.”

Omega goes silent in his lap. It takes a minute, but then she speaks. “So I’m not being abandoned?”

Her voice is so soft; so fragile. Hunter swallows and holds her tighter. “Of course not.” Did she really think he would do that? He pulls away slightly so he can look at her. “Were you actually afraid I would do that?”

Omega tenses and her eyes turn away towards Ryloth. She’s avoiding the answer, which means yes. Hunter nods and rubs his hands up and down her shoulders. She’s still trembling slightly. “I told you we were family. I meant that.”

Omega looks back at him and sighs. “It’s a stupid fear to have,” she mumbles. “No one’s ever stuck around as long as you.”

A small frown comes to his face. That’s new. Who else is there? “What do you mean?”

Another sigh, this one heavier. “I mean, this is how my life goes.” Omega pulls away from him and turns to the viewport. Not facing him seems to give her some amount of confidence. “I was created to be a kid for Jango Fett. I was supposed to have a family. But because I wasn’t exactly what the Kaminoans thought I’d be, I was buried and marked as a failure.” He sees her hands squeeze into fists. “I’m not like the other clones, so I was shunned as soon as Nala Se let me out of that lab.” She scoffs. "One day you'll realise I'm not what you want me to be and you'll leave too. Everybody leaves."

Hunter understands where she’s going with this. “Baby girl, I’m not like the others-”

She whirls on him, sudden anger blazing in her eyes. “You’re not? You tried to give me away to Cut!”

Hunter holds his hands out. This isn’t her mad at him, he thinks. This is her mad at everything and he’s the closest outlet. “That wasn’t me getting rid of you.” He adjusts his knees on the floor and sits back on his legs. “I was trying to protect you.” He swallows and takes his chances. “I wanted to avoid this happening to you.”

Omega narrows her eyes and that defiant stare stays for a few moments before she crumples onto the copilot's chair. “I know,” she whispers. She looks away from him. “I know.” A tiny smile comes to her face. “Otherwise you would have left me with someone else.”

Hunter shrugs. He wouldn’t, but this is the most animated Omega’s been in days. As much as he wants to keep that mood, joking about that, in the face of what she just told him, would just make things worse. He’s done enough of that this week.

Instead, he stands and moves to sit in the pilot’s seat. “Here’s the plan. The others will drop you and me off and go meet up with Rex.” He can already see her widening eyes and he holds up a hand. “It’s just for a few days. Long enough for us to adjust.”

Omega frowns, but this time it doesn’t seem out of fear of him abandoning her. It’s more like she’s curious. “Adjust to what? Where are we going?"

Hunter leans back in his chair. “It’s a camp. A town, really. Last I heard there was close to a hundred people there. Refugees, freedom fighters, I think there’s even a Jedi.” Really, this is all Echo’s work. He wants them to still be useful, so he tracks down General Syndulla’s home base. “It’s enough to keep the boys happy and let you live a life.”

And that was the wrong thing to say. Her frown is a scowl now. “What does that mean?”

Hunter runs a hand through his hair. How to explain this to her? “There’s active missions all over the planet. The others can take all the ops they want” He gives her a small smile. “And when you’re ready, we can take ops too.”

Omega goes quiet at that, and she pulls her knees up to her chest; her chin resting on the groove between them. She just stares at the centre console. “I’m a burden on the squad.”

“Hey.” Hunter gets up and kneels beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “None of that.” He squeezes her gently and tries to find the words so she hopefully doesn’t rage at him for this. “Omega, what happened to you was awful.” She stiffens but doesn’t say anything. Hoping he’s not making things worse, he presses on. “What happened to Echo still haunts him, but he wasn’t a kid.”

He’s had enough talks with Echo about Omega to know that even he has no real idea of how she’s doing. Clones are more equipped for trauma. Not only was it part of the flash training, but they’d all seen enough horrors in the War to desensitise them. But even with all that experience - ARCs see more horrors than most regs - Echo is still haunted by everything. Not just the Citadel; not just whatever mission with Fives he keeps thinking about, but everything about Tambor too. And that's with all the training the Republic provides.

Omega has none of that, and she’s just a kid. Hunter feels a fresh wave of anger spread through him at that thought. Even before that, she’s apparently experienced rejection by every major figure in her life. She’s never mentioned that before today. 

He’s not expecting Omega to open up or anything like that. Not right now. What he wants is to build her trust so that maybe she’ll one day tell him things that bother her. What happened last night was the wrong thing to do. He pushed her too far and she lashed out. Probably screwed her up even more. 

Those parenting datapads didn’t really cover what to do when your kid goes through torture, so he’s on his own. And he really doesn’t think Cham Syndulla has much experience there either. At least, he hopes not.

They sit in silence for a few minutes, just staring at Ryloth. Hunter has no idea if he helped or just hurt her even more. She’s very good at hiding her true feelings, he’s learning. 

And when Omega turns to face him, there’s no hint on her face that she’s bothered by any of this. Hunter would like to think that’s progress, but it’s a mask. Omega’s still hiding what she’s truly feeling. 

After his shitty parenting, Hunter can’t blame her.

She gives him a nod and stands up from the chair. “So we’re going down there?”

Way to go. Can you try not hurting her?

Hunter stands. “Yep.” He wants at least one smile out of this whole shitty debacle, so he lightly elbows her arm. “I think you have a friend down there.”

Omega stops, and she stares at the wall for a few moments. Then a smile breaks out. It’s small and not as carefree as it once was, but it’s still a smile. “Hera?”

It’s a smile. He’ll take it. “Yep.”

Tech appears out of nowhere - Hunter doubts he was listening in to their talk - and sits down on the pilot’s chair. “In a community that size, it is probable that there will be other kids your age.” He’s not really up to speed on feelings, but he smiles at Omega. “You can make more friends, Omega. I know that is important to you.”

Omega just nods, everything she’s feeling still hiding behind that mask. She could be yelling at herself and they’d never know. He really hopes that isn’t something he’s taught her. Useful on enemies; less useful on your squad. 

He still can’t blame her. 

He pushes Omega forward a little. “C’mon, kiddo. Time to pack.” He glances back at Tech, who gives him a resolute nod. Tech was the one with the most resistance to leaving Hunter and Omega there - the others understood that she just needs space right now - so it’s nice to see him agreeing. Tech’s at least easy to read. If he was still against it, he wouldn’t hide it. 

There’s one major side to this that Hunter’s still working to figure out. Crosshair. The sniper is as good with feelings as Tech - though he understands them better - and he commented to Hunter that Omega’s almost avoiding him. Hunter’s not completely sure why that is - he can’t very well ask Omega - but their best guess is that Crosshair reminds her of being tortured. 

Crosshair was there after the first time - and the knowledge that Omega was tortured multiple times makes his blood boil - and came by almost hourly to check up on her. He and Omega had several conversations, though Crosshair doubts she remembers them. Apparently, there were also hallucinogens and other drugs mixed in with the physical torture. 

Hunter squeezes his eyes shut and forces himself to think of something else. The way Omega relaxed when she realised she was out. If he focuses on what happened to her, he won’t be able to control his anger, and she’ll definitely notice that. 

He opens his eyes to see the curtain to her room shut, and Hunter rests his head on the hull of the ship. He has no idea if he’s helping Omega or making things worse. And she won't tell him if he is hurting her; she’ll just internalise it until she’s convinced they’re abandoning her. 

Maybe Ryloth will be that fresh start they need. Maybe this will be good for all of them.

He really hopes so. Because he has no idea what to do if it’s not.

Chapter Text

They just sorta…stand there as the Marauder takes off. Omega fidgets with the strap to her hip holster and tries not to draw attention to herself. The last thing she wants is for Hunter to start questioning her again.

Tech dropped them off about a klick away from this base - or community, as Hunter puts it - and that should give her enough time to come to terms with what’s about to happen. 

She’s messed up the squad. Maybe permanently. Even if Hunter continues to say it’s the right move, that doesn’t change the fact that this is on her. If she had never gotten captured, or if she could control the way she’s feeling, none of this would be happening. 

Hunter gently nudges her forward. “You ready?”

Nope.

“Yep,” she answers brightly, hoping he won’t try and turn this into some deep talk. They just had one of those like two hours ago, no need for more. 

They begin walking to whatever this place is supposed to be. It’s hidden on three sides by mountains and canyons, and the clear side acts as their entrance. There’s a lake maybe three klicks west from the main gate and a large field to the right. Omega startles as they warp through something and she nearly falls before Hunter grasps her shoulder. 

“Bubble shield,” he explains. “Invisible except with scopes.”

Oh. “So that’s why Tech dropped us here?”

Hunter nods and they continue on their way. The shield explains why this place only has walls and no roof. There are individual houses - it’s a proper community. That’s how Hunter explained it, but Omega was still expecting like…military stuff. She’s sure that stuff is here somewhere, but it’s not out in the open.

“It’s a place where people live away from the Empire.” Hunter must notice the look on her face because he starts explaining. “There’s patrols and a local resistance, but that’s not what this is for.”

Omega glances up at him. “We’re soldiers. Why are we here?”

Hunter sighs and looks away, towards one of the mountains. “When we grabbed you out of Kamino that first time, my instinct was to hide. We didn’t, and that was a mistake.”

Omega frowns. “We’re hiding?”

“Yes.” Hunter stops and looks at her. “Forget being soldiers. Forget the Empire; forget everything.” He kneels down in front of her and smiles. “I just want you to have a life, Omega. A life free from the possibility of being tortured again.

And now they’re talking about it again.

It’s frustrating and she doesn’t want to talk about it , but Omega forces herself to stay calm. She reminds herself that Hunter’s doing this out of love and…no one’s ever loved her before. 

This is what dads do.

Omega sighs and looks at the compound. Town, she guesses. She can see what looks like shops. “So we’re both here to stay?”

She has to ask. Despite everything, this could just be some elaborate ploy by Hunter to ditch her. She doesn’t believe that’ll happen; not really. But talking with Hunter earlier had connected some dots for her. Everyone she’s ever loved has abandoned her. She’s just…waiting for Hunter to do the same. 

But, he’s her dad. Her believing that to be true goes against that idea. And, yeah, he’s acting more like a dad now than he did before, but that’s…she likes the more open affection; hates how they got here. Now he’s reading parenting books and coming up with silly nicknames for her; things he didn’t do in the aftermath of Kamino. That’s when the joke started, but that joke didn’t become a reality until…

Omega clears her throat when Hunter doesn’t answer. “Sorry. I know you aren’t going to leave me.”

“Omega…”

Oh, gods. They’re going to start this again. Omega shakes her head and starts moving towards the town. She can hear Hunter sighing behind her and following. Good. Not every second of every day needs to be spent thinking about this. 

Huh. Maybe that’s what he’s going for with this whole ‘let’s live on Ryloth’ thing.

Cool.

Hunter takes the lead as they approach the main gate, and he stares at Omega for a moment. She can read the warning in his eyes. “Don’t go for your weapons.”

Omega narrows her eyes. “We’re-”

“Don’t move!”

The shout startles her, and she instinctively draws her pistol. She ignores Hunter’s exasperated sigh and chooses to focus on the shouter. He’s on top of the wall, a DC carbine in his hand. “Drop your gun!”

Omega scoffs. No way! “I’m not dropping my fucking gun!”

Hunter grabs the pistol out of her hand. “Please don’t get us shot,” he hisses quietly. Straightening, he slides the pistol into his own holster - why he has an empty one is something she can wonder about later - and steps forward. “We’re looking for Cham Syndulla!”

“Oh, you’re looking for Cham Syndulla, huh?” The Twi’lek’s voice is laced with sarcasm and Omega half-wishes she just shot him. “Sure, come on in!”

Hunter sighs. “Just tell him that Clone Force 99 is here. He’ll want to see us.”

She distinctly feels like the guard is rolling his eyes, but he does move away. Hopefully to find General Syndulla and not just laugh at them. 

It takes a good twenty minutes before the gates finally open and an orange Twi’lek - she guesses this is Cham - comes out. “I wondered if I would ever see your team again.” He and Hunter clasp forearms and Omega relaxes slightly. “Welcome, my friend.”

Hunter begins talking with the general, and Omega sees a second Twi’lek has come out. She’s green and sorta looks like a leader person? She smiles at Omega, anyway. “I am Eleni Syndulla.” She kneels down to be on Omega’s level. “Who are you?”

Omega bristles slightly. She’s not giving her name to some random stranger! Before she can say anything, Hunter’s hand lands on her shoulder. “This is Omega,” he introduces. 

Well, there went that. So much for keeping things hidden. What happens if these guys turn out bad? Sure, it’s just her name, but next thing will be Hunter giving them the code for the Marauder. 

She doesn’t trust anymore. She wonders why that is.

Eleni’s still smiling at her. “Would you like to come in?”

No. She wouldn’t. Omega backs away and grabs onto the fibre of Hunter’s leggings. He’s in his civies for this, and she kinda feels like it’ll be a while before he wears his armour again. 

She knows it’s childish, but she latches on to his clothes like him just being there is going to help her figure out if this Eleni can be trusted enough with a tour of the town. Hunter wraps his arm around her shoulders and squeezes gently like he can sense her inner discussion. “You wanna go in?”

Omega nods slightly and lets him take the lead, making sure both General Syndulla and Eleni are in front of her. She also doesn’t like people she doesn’t know hanging out behind her. So, that’ll be great in a town filled with new people.

She’s beginning to wonder - not for the first time - if this is a bad idea. 

The town is pretty simple, really. A bunch of wooden houses and dirt streets. Different stores and these places where you can get food. Actual food instead of military rations. And you can sit down at these places too. It’s weird. 

There’s a bunch of people here and they’re not all Twi’lek. Omega sees some Zabrak; there might be a Pantoran or a Chiss, those are hard to tell apart; there are a few Rodians; a couple of Ithonians and probably more species she’s never heard of. 

And there’s kids. They’re not in the town for more than thirty seconds before Omega almost gets run over by kids chasing some kind of ball. She’s not sure if this is what Shaeeah and Jek were playing back then or some other game. She doesn’t even know how many games there are. 

“Omega!”

That’s a person. They know her name. Omega turns and sees Hera Syndulla sprinting towards her, a grin on her face. “Hera!”

Hera practically slams into her and hugs her. Slowly, Omega hugs her back. “Hi.”

Hera pulls away and stares excitedly at her face. “Where have you been! Why have you come back! Where’s the rest of your brothers!”

That’s a lot of questions. Before Omega can even begin to answer the first one, they’re joined by another kid, this one a human with a small ponytail and some cylindrical object on his right hip. Omega eyes him warily and shuts her mouth. She has no clue who this guy is.

Hera does. She grabs at his hand and grins. “Kanan! This is Omega!”

The kid’s - Kanan’s - eyes aren’t even on her, they’re locked onto Hunter’s back. “That’s a clone.”

Hera’s smile vanishes. “Yes.” The excitement is gone from her voice too. “The clones are okay, Kanan. You know this. Captain Howzer hasn’t done anything to hurt you, has he?”

Kanan folds his arms. “He’s not like this one.”

Okay, this has gone too far. Omega copies his stance and glares at him. “What’s wrong with Hunter?”

At the mention of his name, Hunter turns around, and Omega can feel when his entire body tenses. “Commander Dume?”

Omega’s eyes widen. Dume. This is the Jedi that the squad was with when Protocol 66 was activated. Dume, for his part, doesn’t move; he just stares down Hunter. “Why are you here?”

Great. Open hostility in his voice. Now someone’s going to die. Omega sighs and holds out her hands. “My dad and me just got here. We’re trying to hide from the Empire.” 

That’s all she’s giving Dume, and Hera’s already looking at her weirdly. Oh. Yeah. She already knows that Hunter isn’t her biological dad. That’s gonna be awkward. Still, she doesn’t give Omega away and Dume eventually looks away. “Don’t kill me; I won’t kill you.”

“Great.” Now it’s Hunter’s turn to sigh as he turns back to his discussion with General Syndulla. 

Taking her chances, Omega steps towards Kanan and tries to smile. “We aren’t here to harm you or anyone.”

Kanan scoffs. “Yeah. They said that too. Look what happened.”

Omega touches his arm gently. “Me and my dad can protect you.”

My dad. It still gives her this warm, fuzzy feeling. Some kind of security. Hera’s still looking at her weird but Omega can’t deal with that right now. All she wants to do is make sure Kanan isn’t going to lightsaber - since that’s that’s what on his belt, she knows now - her dad’s head off. Kinda important. 

Kanan sighs. “You don’t kill me, I don’t kill you.”

Probably the closest they’ll get. Omega steps back towards Hera and tries to relax. If Kanan’s this tense around Hunter, she can’t wait for him to meet Crosshair. “Can you show me around?”

Chapter Text

“Hold on.” Captain Howzer holds out his hands. “You and your what are staying here?”

Hunter sighs. “Me and my daughter.” Honestly, it’s not that complicated. The fact that Omega isn’t his biological kid means nothing here. Things like adoption exist, and this reg should not be having such a hard time wrapping his head around the concept. 

If Howzer knew Cut, this would be so much simpler to explain. Shaeeah and Jek weren’t Cut’s biological kids either, but you wouldn’t know that unless he told you. Well, Tech knew, but that was because apparently it is an illogical assumption that a reg could have a five-year-old daughter when the War had only been going on for two years at that time. 

Tech isn’t here right now, but Howzer should really come to the same conclusion. How is Hunter supposed to have a fourteen-year-old daughter when it’s only been six years since Geonosis?

The general gets it. He offers Hunter a nod. “I assume you are here to hide her away from the Empire?”

He’s quick. Hunter nods in return and tries to ignore that voice in his head. The one that panics whenever Omega’s away for too long. She doesn’t need an overprotective father. They can save that for dating.

Dating. Oh, gods…

Hunter refocuses on General Syndulla. “The rest of my team is inbound in a few days. They’re coming with several clone defectors.” He looks at Howzer. “My understanding is that your defences here need some work.”

Howzer shrugs. “Dunno. I’m not the one in charge of it.”

Hunter scowls and looks back at General Syndulla. “What’s your command structure?”

The general smiles. “Captain Howzer is in charge of coordinating the different operations we have. We have other clone defectors who have come to Ryloth.”

Which is something Rex failed to mention last time they spoke. And Rex is the one who would know. When they rescued Howzer from the Empire, they delivered him to Rex. Even though Hunter was…preoccupied…at the time, he remembers that much.

He’s about to ask about the other clones when a reg’s voice sounds from outside. “Numa! Drop it!”

Hunter glances out the window and spots…what looks to be a six-year-old Twi’lek girl wielding a DC-17 pistol. Some reg - he can only see a kama and orange paint - is kneeling in front of her with his hand out. Looking reluctant, the Twi’lek kid slowly puts the pistol into the reg’s hand and steps back. 

The reg stands and hands the kid a vibroknife. Ah, yeah. Much better. Hunter makes a mental note to warn Omega in case the kid turns out to be stabby.

The kid runs off and the reg enters the house. Now Hunter can tell he’s an ARC trooper from the 212th, though his armour isn’t much different in style than the standard Ghost Company colour pattern. His helmet is mostly white except for orange on the fin and the filters. There’s an upside-down triangle just above his visor. 

The ARC takes his helmet off, and Hunter confirms it’s a reg. Standard reg haircut but with a pronounced mustache. “Sorry about that.” His eyes shift over to Hunter, who nods. “She’s better with a knife anyway.”

Hunter doesn’t comment. He can’t, really, not when he’s not even letting Omega off the ship without a pistol and a knife. Still, Omega’s not a six-year-old… “She’s not going to stab anyone, right?”

“Probably not.” The reg turns to General Syndulla. “Trapper reported that a modified Omicron-class transport touched down about a klick from here before returning to space.”

Hunter nods. “That’s us. Our ride dropped us off.”

“Okay. So who are you?” The reg leans against the wall and tucks his helmet under his arm. “You look and sound like a clone. You a deserter?”

Hunter chuckles. “Aren’t we all?” He glances at Howzer. The reg captain doesn't know anything about them either, so he figures now is a good time to get them all up to speed. “My squad defected soon after Order 66.”

The reg flinches and closes his eyes for a minute. He sighs and rests his head against the wall. “Did you serve under a Jedi?”

“No.” Hunter watches the reg closely. Based on his reaction, he probably killed his general. “My squad was considered special ops.”

The reg falls silent and just stays there, so Hunter turns to Howzer. “I’m not saying I want to jump into helping out, but what kind of easy ops do you have?”

Howzer grabs a datapad off the table and skims a list. “Based on what you told me, probably just simple patrols.” He eyes the reg for a moment before looking at Hunter. “You said your daughter is how old?”

Hunter resists the urge to sigh. It’s seriously not that difficult a concept to grasp. Even Tech understands, and all this emotional stuff is above his pay grade. “Fourteen.”

“You have a daughter?” Now he sighs. One more reg to explain this whole thing too. Hunter reluctantly turns to the reg, who’s…smiling? 

“Yeah. Omega.” Hunter studies the reg. Unlike Howzer, who apparently still can’t grasp this concept, the reg looks to have completely understood and accepted it. “She’s not really my-”

“Uh-uh.” The reg holds out his hand. “Don’t even try that card.” He grins. “I know exactly what you’re feeling. Don’t matter if the kid’s biologically related to you, she’s your daughter, right?”

Hunter frowns and reexamines this reg. Both Cody and Howzer have expressed confusion into the exact nature of his changed relationship with Omega, how is it this reg is able to get it in thirty seconds? How-”

From behind him, General Syndulla laughs. “I believe Boil here understands your situation better than anyone else. Much like you, sergeant, he has a daughter.”

Hunter glances out the window at stabby kid. “The kid?”

“Her name is Numa.” Oh, he can hear it now. The way his voice dips like he considers Hunter not knowing the kid’s name a personal insult. “She’s my daughter.”

“Oh?” Hunter raises an eyebrow and leans back. “And how’d that happen?”

The reg - Boil - scoffs. “You first.”

“Okay, boys.” Howzer steps between them and lifts his arms out like he’s expecting this to turn violent. “Let’s not start anything.”

“Not starting anythin’.” Hunter can hear Boil’s eye roll. “Relax, Cap.”

General Syndulla chuckles. “Boil runs the security around town. He and Howzer report to Eleni.”

Hunter turns back to the general. “Your wife?”

He nods. “An old friend once told me delegation is key to success. She and Gobi run different parts of the resistance. So that if anything were to happen, we would not be destroyed.”

Hunter takes that in. Smart plan, considering. “My squad’s not up for grabs, general. I think they’ll be reporting to Commander Cody for a while.”

“Cody?” The tone in Boil’s words gets Hunter looking back at him. There’s a heavy scowl on his face. “Isn’t he Empire?”

“Not anymore.” Hunter smiles. “Captain Rex got him out.”

The exact details on that are still unclear, but Hunter’s been a little busy to go over a debrief with the captain. Since he and Cody are staying on Ryloth for the time being, maybe he’ll finally get that story out of them. Although he expects them to jump right in with helping the resistance. 

It’s almost funny. Hunter had a longer call with Rex explaining the exact nature of their move to Ryloth, and Cody instantly jumped in and said that was their plan as well. Based on the surprised look Rex shot him, that wasn’t exactly true. Hunter knows that Omega doesn’t like seeing Cody because of the memories, and he knows Cody’s aware of that. He also knows how guilty Cody feels about that.

So Hunter’s thinking the officers coming to Ryloth isn’t planned out. Cody just wants to try and atone for…whatever happened on Tantiss. Which will either help Omega, or it won’t. 

Something tells him the ARC trooper over there isn’t gonna know either. 

Hunter sighs and moves to the window. It’s only been twenty minutes since they got inside the town, but Omega’s already found her way into a friend group that included Hera Syndulla - naturally - and Commander Dume. Hunter has no clue how the commander ended up on Ryloth of all places, and based on the open hostility, he isn’t going to find out for a long while. 

But despite his reservations about Omega hanging out with a Jedi who maybe wants to kill him, she seems more like herself. So maybe this is a good thing after all. Maybe they can actually have a fresh start here. 

He hopes so.

Chapter Text

Hera’s a talker. 

Omega had noticed that on their first trip to Ryloth, but she clearly had missed how talky she was. Or maybe she was just filling in for Kanan, who was just grumpy silence. And according to Hera, Kanan’s usually pretty lively and sarcastic. 

Probably Hunter’s presence. Seriously, she doubts Crosshair’s going to live if he shows up.

Well, this is going great. Nice plan, Dad.

This town seems pretty peaceful. There are a number of tiny kids that remind her of the cadets on Kamino, except these kids aren’t being told off for shouting. The kids are playing various games, including one where a ball is kicked into a net. She’s not sure what’s up with that. Shaeeah and Jek threw the ball. 

Those food places she noted earlier have different smells coming out of them. Some baking, some with what smells like roast eopie. There’s a lot of noise and laughter coming from one building she’s pretty sure is a cantina. Couple of reg voices, too. 

There’s some kid who has a knife on her left hip following them, and Omega’s honestly not sure what to do with that. She’s Twi’lek and her face lights up every time Hera says something to her. Could be this is just a kid who’s acting as Hera’s shadow.

But what’s with the knife?

She doesn’t know and doesn’t want to know, so she just follows Hera and Kanan down the dirt street and takes in the houses around them. Most are made of permacrete and some are made of wood like Cut’s house. Vaguely, she wonders if she and Hunter are going to have a house, or if they’ll wait for the others and continue living on the Marauder. She’s surprised that she wants to stay here. She hasn’t seen kids her age in months, and Hera has the right level of familiarity to not make this awkward. Kanan’s intriguing. 

So, maybe they’ll get a house. Just her and Hunter. Actually live like dad and daughter for once. 

Like thinking about that summons it, some voice in her head tells her she’s getting too far from Hunter. It’s a stupid fear and she knows that he’s not going to suddenly die if she goes more than a hundred metres from him, but it still makes her nervous. He’s old; old people have heart attacks, right? Or strokes? Sure, he’s a clone and the Kaminoans engineered their clones to be at extremely low risk for those health concerns, but it could happen. Anything could happen. And then she'd be left here. With no one. Again.

It's a stupid fear to have. Hunter wouldn't have keeled over in the half-hour since she last saw him. And Crosshair's on their side now, so he wouldn't have been shot. Bane is...

Anyway.

She has to be feeling this way because she doesn't have her bow. She has a knife and a pistol, but she’s still missing her primary weapon, as Rex calls it. She doesn’t feel as safe without it.

She must have slowed because Hera’s suddenly stopped beside her. “Are you alright?”

Omega can’t help but glance behind her at the building Hunter had gone into. “I should go find my dad.”

She’s not looking at Hera, but she feels like there’s a small frown on her face. Probably because she’s now calling Hunter her dad when she called him her brother last time they were here. They should probably talk about that at some point. 

But not right now.

She doesn’t stay around to hear Hera’s answer; she begins to walk towards that building. Seriously? You can’t even give him a moment of peace? If he doesn’t want to get rid of you yet, he will if you keep clinging.

She’s not clinging. She’s just…going to make sure he’s still alive. That he’s still breathing. Then she can go back to Hera. It’ll just take a moment. 

She spots him through the window. He’s good. He’s alive. She can go back now.

She walks into the building.

Omega walks straight over to Hunter and leans into his side. He wraps an arm around her shoulders as she tunes in to the conversation. 

“…ere in two rotations.”

General Syndulla sighs. “We can take them to the command centre.”

Omega perks up. “Command centre?” She eagerly glances at Hunter’s face. “Can I go?”

Hunter chuckles. “No. Boil-“ she assuming that’s the ARC reg. “-says there’s an age limit on patrols.”

Omega narrows her eyes at the ARC reg. Sure, age limits worked on Hera and the stabby kid, but she’s a clone! “Hunter, tell him I’m capable!”

Now the ARC reg chuckles. “Ain’t my call, kid. You gotta talk to the boss, and I already know she’ll say no.”

Omega grumbles and looks back at Hunter, who’s wearing one of his Dad Smiles. “What am I supposed to do in the meantime?”

He shrugs. “There’s a school here.”

Now she glares at him. “I’ve been learning from Tech for eight months. What’s a school going to teach me?”

“We can-“

General Syndulla holds out his hands. “This discussion can happen another time.” He looks at the doorway behind her. “I think we have another visitor.”

Omega turns to see the knife kid standing in the doorway, rubbing her eyes like she’s exhausted. “Daddy?”

So, is this another Syndulla? Hera’s little sister or something? Explained the shadow.

That explanation goes out the viewport when the ARC regs kneels down and opens his arms. “Hey there, baby girl.”

The Twi’lek runs into his arms and the ARC reg laughs as he stands up, kid on his shoulder. And…Omega is lost. She’s seen Twi’lek-Human hybrids, but that’s not what this is. What…is this, exactly? 

Hunter squeezes her shoulder and Omega looks up at him to see the Dad Smile is now over his entire face. And she thinks maybe she understands. Kid looks to be six at the most, and this reg wouldn’t have been around to be her biological dad.

So…that means…oh.

She’s lost in thought thinking about it, so she jumps when someone grabs at her wrist. Whirling around, shoulders half-hunched defensively, Omega presses into Hunter a little more before realising that Hera is there, arm extended out to her.

Hunter nudges her. “You can go out and play, sweetie.”

Sweetie? Was he seriously going down a list of nicknames for kids? She saw that in his datapad too, but didn’t think he’d use it. Ugh.

Maybe she can’t judge. Her name is a literal number.

Omega shoves all that away as Hera raises her eyebrows. “You coming?”

Hunter nudges her again, and Omega nods. “Sure.”

The sun is setting as they walk outside, and Omega takes a moment just to stare at it. It’s peaceful. Calm. She has new friends, a new-old friend, and her dad. She’s not even thinking about it. Nope. Not gonna. Because this is a nice moment and she’s not going to ruin it just because Hera startled her a few moments ago. 

Omega shoves that behind her mask and elbows Hera. “Race you to Kanan!”

She’s good. She just…needs to find a way to live with it. Maybe that’s Hunter’s intention in bringing her here in the first place. She’s still not a hundred percent convinced she’s not being abandoned, but she’s working through that fear. Right now, she’s just going to trust her dad. 

This is them starting over. Together. She believes that.

She has to believe that.

Chapter Text

General Syndulla’s given them a home. It’s, compared to the houses Hunter’s seen while on missions, a modest-sized house. It has a ground floor and an upper floor. There’s a small kitchen and dining room on the ground floors, and three bedrooms on the upper floor. 

Compared to what he’s seen, it’s modest. Compared to what Omega’s seen, it’s practically a mansion.

Her eyes go big as they enter the house and Hunter grins. He’s missed these moments of Omega being a kid. They’ve become so rare since Tantiss, and he hopes they become more frequent now that they’re on Ryloth.

Their house has a fireplace and Omega instantly bounds over to it. “Hunter! What is this?”

He smiles and leans on the wall. “That’s a fireplace. It’s a sort of secondary heating system for when the house gets cold.”

He’s not sure if Ryloth does get cold, but he’s suddenly very excited to see Omega’s reaction to it being used for the first time. These moments remind him of their first stop on Saleucami way back in the beginning when she was amazed by dirt. Call him selfish, but he wants more of those moments. 

He flips the light switch and the house is bathed in a warm orange glow. Omega’s eyes go wide at that too, and Hunter’s not even sure she’s ever seen colours out of lights that weren’t bright white. 

He trails after her as she bounds all over the house, occasionally stopping to explain certain items to her. The dish cleaner - the novelty of dishes makes her laugh - and dryer; the cooling chamber that actually holds more than five cups of water; the refresher that is more than four inches. 

His favourite is when they reach the bedrooms. 

He’s certain Omega’s never actually seen a bed before. The closest thing she’s ever had is the tiny sleeping bag in her room on the Marauder, and this is very different. The bed is easily three times wider than her entire body; a good thing since it’s raised off the floor. He doesn’t want to worry about her falling onto the hardwood floor.

He’ll have to see about finding carpet or something soft. She probably doesn’t know what carpet is either and that’ll be a joy to show her. 

One minute, Omega’s beside him taking it all in; the next her boots are on the floor and she’s jumping on top of the bed in sock feet. He’s tempted to warn her about springs poking up and hurting her but changes his mind. She’s not going to damage the bed; all eighty pounds of her. And, she’s acting like a kid. This is what he wanted. 

Her hair flops around with each bounce; there’s an actual grin on her face, and she’s laughing. He can’t remember the last time he heard her laugh. 

“Hunter!” Her excited cry has his smile growing. “It’s so bouncy!” She bounces for another few moments before shifting her legs so her butt lands on the mattress. “I like it!”

Hunter chuckles and moves to sit beside her. “I’m glad.”

He gets a front-row seat to Omega discovering the rest of the room and he’s pretty sure she’s stopped blinking. She slowly moves around the room, hands flittering to almost touch every surface. The walls; the wood dresser; the window made of actual glass - she’s fascinated by that one; the closet gets an audible wow out of her. 

It’s maybe ten minutes before she returns to sit down next to Hunter, grabbing at his hand excitedly. “We get to live here?”

Hunter just nods and Omega flops down onto the mattress, running a hand over the cushioned material. He’s not exactly sure what it is either, but it’s certainly soft. Omega’s grin has been on her face since they first entered the house. 

He leaves her there and goes to the bedroom across the hall; the one he’s designated as his own. His first concern when he saw the house was if there’d be enough room for the squad, but they honestly won’t be around too often, he thinks. Echo, at least, plans to keep busy with constant missions, and he knows Crosshair wants to find some kind of atonement for what happened while he was in the Empire. 

They’ll still be around more often than not. And Hunter knows that Rex and Cody are going to be staying here on a more permanent basis while they set up…something. Probably some kind of rebellion that reaches beyond Ryloth. They don’t have to be here, but they both want to support Omega, and Hunter’s touched. 

He sets his bag on the bed and begins unpacking. Takes all of five minutes with everything he owns. He peeks back in on Omega and finds her in the same spot; her own bag untouched on the floor. 

He chuckles and heads downstairs. This is what she needs. He knows it. Just time and distance away from everything, and somewhere secure to grow up. Maybe his first idea was right. Maybe they should have laid low after Kamino. The kid could kill without feeling anything, and that’s on him. He turned Omega into a killer because there was no other way. 

He doesn’t want to focus on this right now.

He busies himself with checking the supplies in the house. There’s a water filter inside the cooling chamber and a bit of food. He sets the ration bars in with the real food and does calculations. With just him and Omega, they have enough for a solid week.

Wait. No. They don’t have to ration anymore. Omega could eat what she wants when she wants because she can. Which is a good thing; she’s still thin from Tantiss. 

He’s done enough to ruin her life in the past year. His sole mission now is to give her the best life possible. Whatever it takes.

. . . . . . . . . . 

It’s probably nearing 2200 before he sees Omega again; she patters downstairs in bare feet and her sleep clothes on. She sits down silently beside him and just stares at the floor for a good minute.

Hunter turns away slightly in case she wants to talk about something heavy and doesn’t want her looking at him. “Everything okay?”

She's silent for a good few minutes before sighing softly. “I’m sorry I’m messing up the squad.”

“What?” Hunter turns back to Omega. “Kid, you’re not.” 

“Yes, I am.” Her tone is laced with anger - self-loathing, he thinks. “If I wasn’t captured, we wouldn’t be here.”

“Hey.” Hunter slides off the couch and kneels in front of her, gently touching her knee. “Kiddo, this is where we need to be. And it’s not because of you.”

She scoffs. “Feels like it,” she mutters.”

“It’s not.” Hunter gently squeezes her knee. “The squad needs time to adjust to Crosshair being back. Echo doesn’t trust him, so them being here is a good thing. They can get back into form without worrying about big ops.”

Now she’s scowling at him. “If I hadn’t been captured, you wouldn’t be stuck babysitting me instead of being a soldier. I-”

“Omega.” His tone seems to stop her and she just stares at him now. He sighs. “Being a soldier, none of that matters like I thought it did.” He shifts back up to sit on the couch and rests a hand on her shoulder. “You are what matters. I can take losing missions and wars; I can even take losing the others - that’s how we were raised.” That, and the constant loss of the other CT-99s back when they were cadets was a vivid demonstration of how quickly you lose brothers in battle. It'd be hard, but he could do it. 

Omega’s head is tilted down; he tilts her chin up with a gentle hand so she’s looking at him. “I can take every loss in the galaxy, but I can’t lose you.” Her eyes instantly water and he smiles softly. “You call it babysitting; I call it parenting. And believe me, there is nothing I would rather be doing.”

Now there are tears falling down her face and Hunter wraps his arms around her. She snuggles her face into his side and he sighs. “Being your dad is the greatest thing I could ever do.”

Omega hugs him back before leaning back, absently palming tears off her face. “I like being your daughter,” she quietly admits. “I’ve never had that before.”

Hunter’s never been a dad before either, so they’ll just take this one step at a time. And he’s sure he’ll make mistakes, but she’s a good kid. They have each other; they can get through it. The direct aftermath of Tantiss showed him that. 

They have each other: that’s all they need.

Chapter Text

Thock.

Omega jerks awake and quickly rolls away from the bed; staring in confusion at the unfamiliar room around her. Where was she? This wasn’t the Marauder and it wasn’t that prison. It-

Ryloth. This was their new home.

She sighs and runs a hand through her hair. Place looks different in the almost-light of the early morning. She’s good; it just startled her.

Thock.

Omega frowns and turns to the direction of the noise - the viewport glass thing - in time to see a small rock bounce off it. Now she scowls and moves to the glass, her confusion only growing as she sees Hera Syndulla standing down on the ground, a pile of rocks next to her. As soon as they make eye contact, Hera motions for Omega to come down.

Did…she want to talk? But then why not just come up here? Did these doors lock or something? And what’s with the rocks? What if the glass broke?

She’s not going to get any answers up here, so Omega puts boots on over her bare feet and forgoes her knife and pistol. It’ll just be a quick talk. It’s nearly 0600, if she has to guess, so it’ll have to be quick. 

She pokes her head into Hunter’s room; he left the door open - in case she had a nightmare, she’s pretty sure. He’s sound asleep. Omega debates waking him; letting him know she was leaving, but…he’s gotten such little rest in the past few months. She doesn’t want to take him the one time he’s actually sleeping. 

As silently as possible, she sneaks down the stairs and quietly opens the door, exiting and shutting the door in one motion. As soon as she’s turned to the street, Hera bounds over to her and grabs her arm. “I need to talk to you.”

Omega frowns and glances at the rising sun. “Now?”

“Figured Hunter would still be asleep.” Hera leads her down the street towards the storage space for the speeder bikes. She sits down on one and faces Omega. “Why are you here?”

Omega frowns. “To hide from the Empire?” It’s technically a cover story, since they’re here because of the past few months and not because the Empire is a problem. But she’s not going to get into all that with Hera. 

Hera obviously doesn’t buy the story anyway. She just arches an eyebrow and nods back at the house. “So why come with just him?” Her nose wrinkles as she scowls. “And why call him your dad?”

Omega sighs. She manages to curb down the instinctive response that Hunter is her dad; that’ll just confuse Hera more. But she also really doesn’t want to get into the events of the past few months. 

She decides to go with a combination of the truth and the lie. “Hunter’s acting like he’s my dad.” No, that just sounds like this isn’t real. She shakes her head. “He is. It’s…” 

There’s nothing. No way this works without admitting at least some of the truth. And Hera is General Syndulla’s daughter; she could maybe get them kicked out. Omega turns away and stares at the distant mountains. “I was captured,” she reveals softly, “by the Empire. For a long time. I was convinced I was on my own; that they abandoned me.” She looks down at her hands. “When Hunter got me out… I needed more than a brother.”

It’s a confusing explanation, even to her, but she can’t really explain how the knowledge that she has a dad makes her feel so much safer. She can’t explain it because she doesn’t even really know how that works. 

She can’t explain how Hunter’s presence, more than the others, helps calm her after a nightmare. She can’t explain how he makes her feel like a kid instead of a soldier, or why that’s so important now. She can’t explain how it feels to be someone’s daughter after years of being just a failed experiment. She can’t; she doesn’t know how. 

Hera apparently understands everything she can’t say because her face softens. “Okay,” she eventually whispers. “So he’s your dad.”

Omega nods. “He’s my dad.”

Hera’s eyes flick to focus on something behind her and Omega watches her grimace. “Well, your dad is coming this way and he looks mad.”

Omega sighs and looks down. “Fuck.” She stands and slowly turns around to see Hunter marching down the street towards her, face locked in an angry scowl. In his hands, he has a pistol and a sheathed knife. Her sheathed knife. She thinks she knows what this is about. Double fuck.

“I don’t even want to think what possessed you to go outside without even your knife,” he basically begins lecturing her as he stops in front of her. “Do you know how stupid that was?”

Omega glares at him and folds her arms. “I was just talking to Hera!” She scoffs. “Sorry, didn’t think I needed to be armed for that.”

She takes a step back and notes that Hera’s gone. Probably left as soon as she saw Hunter. Omega can’t blame her. Hunter narrows his eyes. “You shouldn’t be going anywhere without your knife.”

“Is this place not safe?” Omega rolls her eyes and throws her arms out to the side. “Why the fuck would you move us here if it isn’t safe?”

“This is a planet at war.” Hunter holds the sheathed knife out in her direction. “We take zero chances. Got it?”

She rolls her eyes again for good measure but takes the knife. “Alright, fine. Sorry.” She’s still wearing her sleep clothes, so she just slips the knife up into her sleeve. “Any other ground rules?”

Hunter sighs and runs a hand over his face. “Don’t leave the house without letting me know? At least for right now?”

Omega’s annoyance at him softens. He means that he woke up while she was gone and it scared him. That’s what this is about. Okay, that’s on her. “Sorry.” 

That apology is genuine and Hunter’s scowl softens too. Now that Omega’s thinking about it, Hunter’s rarely gone more than a few hours without checking up on her after…

After.

She swallows and tries to smile. “So… do we have breakfast?”

Now it’s Hunter who’s rolling his eyes and he motions for her to begin walking back to the house. As she passes him, he ruffles her hair with his hand and she pulls away, trying to glare at him. It’s maybe not effective if the grin on his face is anything to go by. “Yeah, we have breakfast.”

Chapter Text

“So how’d you get a kid?” Hunter sips his water, briefly glancing over at where the kids are playing before refocusing on Boil. Since their argument this morning, he decided that he doesn’t need to be hounding Omega every second of every day. She’s going to be a kid, and she doesn’t need her dad to restrict that.

He set rules for her this morning, and he also set rules for himself. No drinking. He hasn't done much of that anyway, not since those first few days after Serenno. 

Things are different now, but he doesn't feel like mixing alcohol and parenting is a good strategy. Seems Boil thinks the same.

Boil sighs. “My batchmate and I were involved in the Liberation of Ryloth.” His eyes focus on something over Hunter’s shoulder, probably his kid. “Numa’s a war orphan. Lost her parents during the Separatist Invasion. Waxer and me met her on a patrol. She helped us fight.”

Hunter nods. “And when the 212th shipped out?”

Boil shrugs. “Waxer and me kept tabs on her. She had a uncle that looked after her, but he was killed some months after we left.”

“So Numa was left with nobody.”

“Yeah.” Boil leans back in his chair. “When I became ARC, I requested to be stationed on Ryloth. Wanted to watch out for the kid.”

“Hold up.” Hunter leans forward. He knows a little more about how ARCs work than most. “ARCs don’t get to choose their ops.”

“Nope.” Boil shrugs. “But General Kenobi saw how me and Waxer handled Numa. I never said anythin’, but the general knew why I wanted to be stationed here. So he gave me permission.”

There’s more he’s not sharing, Hunter knows that. Hell, he’s not going to share Omega’s experiences, even if the reg asks him. He has a version of the truth he can tell, but Boil doesn’t need to know the finer shades of why. “I understand.”

“Good.” Boil sets his water down and studies Hunter. “So how’d you become dad to a teenager?”

Hunter shrugs. “Long story.” He glances behind him; making sure the kids are still playing. They are. Omega waves at him and he waves back. Then he turns back to Boil. “Omega’s a clone,” he reveals, “like us.”

Boil’s eyes widen. “The kid’s a clone?”

“Yep.” Hunter sighs. “Genetically defective. Kept in Nala Se’s lab for most of her life. We got her out and came here.”

Eh, that’s most of the truth. All that he’s willing to share, really. It’s enough for Boil, who leans back in his seat and studies the kids behind Hunter. “Huh.” Then he looks back at Hunter. “But you’re her brother.”

“Wasn’t enough.” Hunter’s speaking before he’s thinking. “I was her brother for a long time and I-” he stops himself and scoffs. “She needs a dad.”

He was her brother, and he failed her. Let her get hurt; let her arm get so broken she couldn't move it for weeks after getting home. Let her get tortured by the Empire and still get tortured at night. 

And if he can go the rest of his life without seeing Omega in danger or pain again, he'll gladly take it. But, he knows her. Sooner or later, she’s going to get back in the fight. She’s a clone; it’s in her blood. And her being around them isn’t helping anything either. Part of why he wanted to bring her here alone. Any amount of time that she can just be a kid is a good thing. 

He’s reminded of how she acted last night. Jumping on beds and laughing. Hunter’s taken away enough of the kid’s childhood. They just turned into some soldier who can kill and feel nothing. Like them. He…he wants more for her. She’s a clone, but she has the chance to be better. Clones don't do partners or romance, she can! Clones don't think of a life beyond their mission. Hunter's an exception; his mission is raising Omega. Like Boil's is raising Numa.

But Omega is different to them. She can choose her own purpose in life. She can be so much more than them. Despite everything, that’s Hunter’s goal for her. 

“Hunter!” Her shout has him twisting in his chair to face her. The kids - her, Syndulla, Dume, and a few others - are playing that kickball game. A net on either side of a field and you have to get it inside or something. Omega’s arms are above her head and she’s grinning. “I did it!”

“Good job!” He offers her a thumbs-up and a smile, and he twists back at Boil’s snort. The ARC has a bemused smile on his face. “What?”

“Ah,” Boil shakes his head. “Never thought I’d see the day when special forces go soft.”

Hunter scoffs and shakes his head. “Says you, reg. You transform into a completely different person when your kid appears.” He raises an eyebrow. “And you actively arm her.”

“While we’re on a planet that’s in a war? Yeah, I’m arming the kid.” Boil nods at the kids. “Yours has a knife at the back of her belt.”

Hunter shrugs. “Omega’s fourteen. She’s curious, and that’s dangerous here. I’d like her to be able to protect herself. She’s not six.” 

Boil leans forward. “Numa’s already been captured during the War, and she watched all her family die. We don’t take chances anymore.”

Yeah, sounds like him and Omega. She terrified him this morning when he woke up and she was gone. Stupid fear to have, but he panicked. She was gone and he had no idea where. Took him right back to those two nightmarish months when he thought she was…

Hunter turns his chair around so he can watch the kids’ game. Omega might have a slight advantage in sports, seeing as how she was actively climbing into cargo pods and fighting regs just four months ago. Then again, Syndulla’s lived her entire life in a War, and he doesn’t even know what Dume’s seen. The trio seems to have formed a fast friendship. Hopefully, that’ll mean Dume stops glaring at him every time they meet. 

Probably not, but he can live in hope. 

“You ever wonder if their lives would be better if they never met us?”

Boil’s soft question has Hunter twisting to glance at him. “What?”

The ARC shrugs. “Numa’s seen things. Not just her family dying. The War only got worse on Ryloth, and when I took her, I didn’t think… I didn’t know all the horrors I’d be exposing her to.”

Hunter looks down at the ground. Would Omega’s life be better without him? She never would have been captured by Bane or by the Empire, but what about Kamino? She was designation C-02; the Kaminoans’ backup plan. She would have died and her cells would have been harvested to restart the clone army. 

His daughter is selfless; she would be willing to sacrifice herself for that cause. Hunter’s selfish; he would kill every Kaminoan on Tipoca City if it meant keeping her safe. So, no, her life wouldn’t be improved without him. She’d just be dead. 

Hunter can handle a lot of things, but that…that would kill him. Training on Kamino led him to understand that brothers fell in battle. His entire life was spent accepting that. He could lose his squad and survive. But he never imagined how painful the loss of a child was, and he got to experience that for two months after Serenno. 

He doesn’t want to face that ever again. He couldn't face that ever again. She dies, there'd be a gun to his head so fast-don't go there.

Hunter clears his throat and shakes his head. “No. I think they’d be worse off without us.” He turns back to the game. “Numa was an orphan. Without you, she’d be left with nothing. Without me, Omega would be dead right now.”

Even with how messed up her mind - both their minds - are, she’s at least alive. Hunter believes they can work together to heal here. And then they’ll see where to go from there.

Chapter Text

Omega climbs up the tree as silently as she can manage, keeping an ear out for Kanan’s approach. There’s only a limited amount of time; she can’t get caught. 

She nestles near the top of the tree and pulls out her - Hunter’s - macrobinoculars, training them on the courtyard. So far, so good. 

It’s a few minutes later that she hears Hera’s shout - Kanan must have found her. It’s somewhat in the distance, so Omega goes back to watching through the binocs. Only a matter of time now…

There. She sees a flash of silver on a belt - Kanan’s lightsaber. His eyes are scanning the nearby surroundings and Omega crouches lower, even though it’s very unlikely he can see her from this distance. Still, she doesn’t want to get caught. 

His eyes pass over her tree and he moves off in another direction. Omega breathes a sigh of relief and lifts herself up slightly, watching Kanan move away. As soon as he’s far enough, Omega slides down the tree and pulls out her pistol.

She stays crouched down on the ground, slowly tailing the Jedi. Really, it’s thanks to Hunter’s lessons that she can even do this. He taught her tracking, but he also taught her how to be stealthy. She hasn’t tested it against a Jedi, but it seems to be working so far.

She ducks behind a wall as Kanan turns around. This is the most dangerous part. Slowly; quietly, she draws her knife and waits. Maybe fifteen seconds later, his shadow passes over her as he moves on the other side of the wall. 

Omega mentally counts to ten before vaulting over the wall, hurling the knife as hard as she can. It slams into the wood just beside Kanan’s face, and he whirls around. As soon as he sees her, Omega fires a single shot that sends him to the ground.

“Ha!” Omega locks the safety on her pistol and returns it to her holster, moving forward to yank her knife out of the wood before turning to Kanan, who is sitting on the ground and holding his head. “Told you I’d win.”

Kanan groans and winces as he shakes his head. “At least you set it for stun.”

Omega smirks and offers him a hand. While he’s standing, she spots Hunter in the distance, moving towards them. “At least I hit the wood with my knife.”

“Ha, yeah.” Kanan rubs the back of his neck. “Either you have great aim or terrible aim.”

She shrugs. “Depends on the day.” He pales and Omega laughs as she begins walking towards Hunter. “Success.”

Hunter blinks. “At hide-and-seek.” He raises an eyebrow and folds his arms. “You’re literally playing hide-and-seek.”

“Noo.” Omega looks back at Kanan. “We were… training!”

“Uh-huh.” Hunter glances at something to his right. “And climbing up that tree was part of it?”

Kanan moves forward and smacks her arm. “That’s where you were hiding?”

Omega rolls her eyes. “Thanks, Hunter. Now I’m never going to win again.”

“Win at what?” Oh no. There’s a smirk on his face. “I thought you were training?”

Omega growls and returns her knife to the sheath at her back. “Shut up.”

Hunter laughs and Omega turns away from him. Last thing she needs is for him to spot the smile she can’t quite hide. But she sees Hera moving towards them, and she breaks away from her dad in favour of her friend. “Beat you.”

Hera rolls her eyes. “Yeah? Where’d you hide this time? Sewer pipe? Garbage chute?”

Omega shrugs. “Up a tree.”

“Of course.” Hera narrows her eyes as Kanan joins them. “I hide in a hay pile and you spot me instantly, but she climbs a tree and becomes invisible?”

Kanan shrugs. “Be more yellow.”

“Wha-that tree is green!” Hera hurls a hand out to Omega’s hiding spot. “She’s a human wearing combat clothes! How do you miss that?”

Omega smirks. “Maybe you should climb up the tree next time.” She glances at Kanan. “Or maybe we’ll just blind Kanan; make it fair.”

“Hey, what do you mean ‘fair’?” Kanan folds his arms. “You just shot me!”

Omega glances at Hera. “Big baby. Thinks getting stunned is the same as being shot.”

“I’ve had both, actually.” There’s a dark undertone to Kanan’s voice and Omega inwardly sighs. She’s been trying to understand how deep Kanan’s anger towards clones goes. He seems fine with the regs here, but he still eyes Hunter with distrust. She would have thought that Hunter would get a little leeway since he never actually attacked Kanan. 

Really, she just wants to know if they need to keep Crosshair away from the town for the next week. Or month. Or year. However long until they’re sure Kanan isn’t going to lightsaber her brother. That…wouldn’t end well. 

She doesn’t want to worry about that right now, so she plasters a smile onto her face. “You’re lucky I don’t have my bow.”

It’s the wrong thing to say, because now she’s thinking about stuff she doesn't want to. Like how her bow is still…wherever it is, and how she only really feels safe now when Hunter’s near. The fact that, no matter how good she is getting with the pistol and knife, her bow is still the easiest weapon for her. 

She doesn't want to think about that either, so she turns to Hera. “You lost, so it’s your turn.”

“Ugh, fine.” Hera groans and turns around. “One. Two. Three…”

Omega nods and backs away, already thinking of her next hiding spot. She hasn’t lost a round yet and doesn’t plan to. 

Because the last time you had to hide, you broke your arm and got captured. You failed then, and you’re going to fail now.

No, she’s not. She can’t. If she can beat Kanan and Hera, she can beat the Empire. So she’s going to win. 

There’s no other way.

Chapter Text

He can see it. The cargo pod’s tumbling to the ground far below, but all of his attention is on Echo. He’s reaching for something just below the cliff face. 

Somehow he knows it's Omega.

Hunter leaps out of the Marauder and rolls to a stop next to Echo. Kneeling down next to him, he both relaxes and tenses when he sees Omega dangling over the edge of the cliff, holding on to an upturned root with both hands. Echo strains to grab her and Hunter pushes him aside, leaning over the edge as far as he can. “Omega!”

“Hunter!” She holds out one hand to him and he’s able to clearly see the petrified expression on her face. “I can’t reach!”

Echo grabs his arm and Hunter nods, inching down the cliff as far as he can safely go without killing both of them. “I got you!”

He strains, and his fingers brush her own before the root gives way. And then all he can see is Omega. Screaming. Falling. The echo of her scream fades and Hunter squeezes his eyes shut before he can see-

Hunter gasps and sits up. It wasn’t even like that. Omega was in the pod when it fell; that’s what saved her life. It gave her a broken arm and torn shoulder, but she was at least alive. She didn’t die on Serenno; she’s in the other room sleeping. She’s fine. She’s good. 

…he should probably go make sure she’s alive.

Hunter stands and runs a hand through his hair. He isn’t going to wake her; just peek in and make sure she’s sleeping soundly. She could be having a nightmare right now and he’d never know. Their home has walls now, after all.

More out of habit than a fear he’ll need to use it, Hunter slides his pistol into its holster and attaches his knife to the back of his belt. If he’s going to get mad at Omega for leaving unarmed, he better follow those rules.

He steps out of his room and quietly pokes his head into Omega’s. She’s curled up in her bed, one arm hugging Lula and the other holding on to her pillow. Hunter smiles and ducks back out, leaving the door open a crack, just in case.

He’s tempted to go back and try to sleep; it’s only 0300. But-

‘Hunter!’

-something tells him he’s not going to be getting any more rest. Sighing softly, he heads downstairs and turns on the sitting room lights. Grabbing the datapad Tech gave him, Hunter sits down and begins to read.

. . . . . . . . . . 

“Hunter?”

Hunter blinks and looks up. Omega’s standing at the base of the stairs, one hand rubbing her eyes sleepily. Lula’s tucked under her arm and her shoulders are draped with the massive purple blanket Wrecker got for her a few weeks back. It’s somehow the softest thing Hunter’s ever felt, and Omega loves it.  

Hunter sets down his datapad and smiles at her. “Hey there, best daughter.”

Her returning smile is small and lifeless. “Hey, best dad.”

Hunter studies her for a moment before scooting down on the couch and patting the cushion next to her. “Wanna sit?”

Omega hesitates before crossing the room to sit on the couch next to him, nestling into his side. Hunter wraps an arm around her shoulders and offers her a smile. “You okay?”

Omega’s silent a minute before shaking her head. “Nightmare,” she murmurs.

Hmm. Hunter rubs her shoulder. “Wanna talk about it?”

Omega looks away for a second before glancing at his datapad. “What’re you reading?”

Eh. Worth a shot. Hunter unlocks the datapad and hands it to her. “Reports from Rex,” he answers. He’s grateful he hadn’t still been reading the psychology notes Tech left him. He’s not sure how Omega would take that. “They’ll be here in a few days.”

Omega hands the datapad back to him. “With the rest of the squad?”

“Yep.” Hunter sets the datapad on the table and sighs. “How do you think your friend will take it?”

Now Omega sighs. “I don’t know,” she admits. “He might attack Crosshair.”

Maybe. But Jarrus hadn’t attacked him yet, and he was with Crosshair when Order 66 was issued. “We’ll just have to see.”

They sit in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Omega leans back into his side. “I hate bad dreams.”

Hunter nods and presses a soft kiss to her crown. “I know,” he whispers. 

Omega purses her lips and looks away. “It’s so stupid,” she comments. “I’m not even there anymore; I shouldn’t be dreaming about it!”

“It’s only been two months.” Hunter hugs her side. “Echo’s been out of the Citadel for two years and he still has nightmares about it.”

Echo’s tried to get Omega to open up about her nightmares, but she’s been silent. She’s that way with everyone, right now. Even him. 

Omega glares at him. “Echo was fucking tortured for years. I was only there for two months.”

Hunter shrugs. “Trauma’s trauma. Echo wasn’t a kid when he was captured.”

Speaking of trauma, Omega swears now. He doesn't really remember her ever doing that before Tantiss, and Tech's datapad says that's a way of managing excess emotion or something. Some kind of coping mechanism. 

That study into coping mechanisms was dark enough to nearly give him nightmares. Detaching from reality; cutting; substance abuse, he's grateful Omega's seem to be limited to flashbacks and swearing.

That he knows of. Things like self-harm...he doesn't know what to do in that situation. Hunter shakes himself and refocuses on the conversation. Going down that tooka-hole right now is a bad thing. He can freak out later. 

Omega smirks, but it’s more like she’s covering her fear. “So? I’m older than all of you.”

It’s a tiny distraction, but Hunter will take it. “Yeah?” His hand slips off her shoulder and he runs his fingers across the sole of her bare foot. “That mean anything?”

Omega twitches slightly and Hunter grins. “You ticklish?” He digs his fingers into her sole and Omega squeals. She kicks her foot away so Hunter finds her other one.

He doesn’t let up until her shoulders are shaking from laughter and there are tears streaming down her face. “H-Hunter! Y-you’re going to make me pee!” She continually pokes him in the ribs with her foot until he lets her go and she scooches until she’s on the other end of the couch, still giggling. “I take it back; you’re the worst dad I ever met.”

Hunter leans back and grins. “Watch yourself, little girl.” He lifts his hand and wriggles his fingers. “Careful.”

“Nu-uh.” Omega withdraws her bare feet into her blanket and wraps it around her body, still giggling slightly. “I’ll stab you.”

Hunter smirks. “You even have your knife on you?”

Omega shrugs, now calm enough to give him a sinister smile without any giggles breaking through. “Wanna find out?”

No, not really. Hunter raises his hands in defeat. “Fine.” He rests one arm on the back of the couch and watches her for a minute. “You’re a good kid.”

And, as usual, that’s the wrong thing to say. Omega tenses slightly and looks down at her hands. “I’m not.”

“Hey.” Hunter leans forward and touches her arm. “None of that. Your past doesn’t define who you are, Omega. Who you are is up to you.”

Omega sighs and draws her knees to her chest. “I don’t know who I am.” She rests her chin on the crease between her knees that the blanket makes. “I’m not a soldier anymore.”

Hunter sighs and moves so he’s sitting next to her. “That’s okay,” he begins slowly. “You don’t have to be.”

Her eyes flick up to study him. “So I’m not useful on the squad.”

“Your job is to just be a kid.” Hunter nudges her lightly. “Go hang out with your friends. Do things kids your age are supposed to. That doesn’t include killing.”

Omega huffs a small laugh. “Kanan and Hera have killed and they’re my age.”

Okay, that’s on him. Shouldn’t expect Omega to be a regular kid on a planet in the middle of a war, especially when her friend group consists of the daughter of the leader of the Resistance and a Jedi. 

Hunter shakes his head. “Don’t go looking for trouble. Don’t go searching for Imperial patrols. Kids your age are supposed to play games or go swimming in that lake. Give parents like us heart attacks.”

That elects a small smile from her and she tilts her head to study him. “Dating?”

Hunter frowns and stares at her. “Where’d you hear about dating?” He can’t imagine it was a popular topic on Kamino.

Omega shrugs. “From Hera. She was talking about Kanan, though.”

Hunter shrugs back, not really wanting to get into that camtono of worms with his daughter. He’ll just be grateful there’s no boys her age for her to…experiment with. That’d be too much like a kid, and he’s not ready for that.

Omega seems to pick up on his hesitation and grins. “So that’s a no on the dating?”

Hunter sighs and stares at the floor. “Tell you what. You find a boy I like, and we’ll talk about it.”

Omega shrugs, but there’s a tiny frown on her face. “Kay.” She shakes her head and looks away. “Sounds fun.”

Hunter gives her the best Dad Look he can at 0600. “You’re just looking to make my life difficult, aren’t you?”

Omega looks back at him and offers the biggest smile she can. Her eyes are wider than normal, like she's hiding her exhaustion with a grin. It’s purely fake, but it still makes him chuckle. “That’s my job.”

Hunter laughs and pulls her in for a hug. “That’s my girl.” Omega stays in his arms for longer than he’s expecting, and when he looks down at her, she’s sound asleep. Makes sense. Lights out was 2100 and she got up at 0530. She’s probably exhausted. 

Hunter smiles fondly and slides one of his arms under her knees so he can carry her. Her head lulls against his chest and he crouches so he can pick up Lula. He carries Omega upstairs and gently lays her on her bed, tucking Lula in next to her. He drapes her with her blanket and gently kisses the top of her head. “Sweet dreams, kiddo.”

He moves back to the door as silently as he can and pauses to watch her for a moment. The blackout curtain on her window will block out the early morning light, and this’ll probably screw up her sleep cycle, but she looks so peaceful right now. She rarely sleeps well, so he’ll let her sleep as long as she wants. For tonight.

Hunter backs out the door and smiles. “Love you, kid,” he whispers. 

Then he closes the door and goes back downstairs.

Chapter Text

“So what do you do around here?” Omega studies Hera as they walk down the street. She has her knife; Hunter can’t get mad at her this time. She’s good.

Hera hums. “Sometimes Kanan and I do patrols.”

Yeah, Omega can’t really see Hunter letting her do patrols any time soon. “Anything else?”

“We play games?” Hera shrugs. “There’s honestly not that much to do around here for kids. Father says this is a refugee camp, not a daycare.”

Omega rolls her eyes. Right, because kids taking a little bit of time to act like kids is the worst thing in the galaxy. Goes right against Hunter’s ‘go be a kid’ rule. “That sucks.”

“It’s not that bad.” Hera nudges her. “You have to be sixteen to do armed patrols, but I’m sure you could convince Hunter to let you go.”

Sixteen. Omega doesn't even think Hunter will let her go when she actually does turn sixteen. It was just a few nights ago that he told her she didn’t have to be a soldier. So she doesn’t see armed patrols being something for her. Not yet. 

But… “If armed patrols start at sixteen, how are you and Kanan allowed to go?” Omega frowns. “Unless you’re sixteen.”

Hera laughs. “No, I’m not. Kanan’s sixteen, and he’s a Jedi. The guards don’t stop me because of my dad.”

“Really?’ From everything Omega’s heard about General Syndulla, he’s the last person in the galaxy to put his daughter at risk like this. “Does your dad know?”

“Nope.” Hera sighs. “He’d just restrict me to my room or something.”

Yeah, Omega thinks that Hunter would do the same if she was caught going on patrol. “I get it.”

They reach the storage space for the speeder bikes and Omega clambers onto one, folding her knees onto the seat and tucking her chin onto them. She doesn’t-

“What’s your story, Omega?”

Omega blinks and focuses on Hera, who has climbed onto another speeder and mirrored Omega’s position. “What?”

Hera shrugs. “Last time you were here, you said Hunter was your brother. But Hunter’s a clone. How are you guys related?”

Omega sighs. That’s…a long and complicated story. She doesn’t even know where to begin. “I’m… a clone,” she finally begins. “A defective one, like them. I grew up on Kamino inside a lab.” She hugs her arms around her knees. “I’ve… I’ve watched a lot of my brothers die.” She locks eyes with Hera, unable to keep tears from springing to her eyes. “Do… you know what it’s like to watch your baby brothers die and be powerless to stop it?”

She squeezes her eyes shut and forces the tears back. Out of all the things she’s seen and experienced on Kamino, this is the worst. Everything the Kaminoans did to her doesn’t hold a torch to hearing a four-year-old brother screaming her name; begging her to make the pain stop. Hearing them die begging for help.

‘Omega!’

She sniffs and wipes a hand across her face. “Clone Force 99 got me out,” she whispers hoarsely. “They were the only clones to survive Kamino. They were nobodies. Like me.” She stares down at the ground. “I went with them because they’re the closest thing I got to family.”

She’s unaltered. She’s watched every other CT-99 die. Some die in training missions; some die because their mutations killed them. Most die young; in agony. And, in the end, only four clones were stable enough to survive into adulthood. Ninety-five clones died so four could live. 

And she saw all of it. 

It ranks up there with the aftermath of her capture. Because she can close her eyes and still hear those little voices screaming. When she doesn’t dream about her being in pain; it’s about them.

She can’t tell any of this to Hunter. How can she? All her dad really knows is that she’s technically older than them. She doesn’t want to share about how she’s watched every single one of his brothers die. 

She forces all of that into a cage and tries to smile at Hera. “That’s my story.”

Her friend looks repulsed. And that’s not even half of it. Omega hops down from the speeder and approaches Hera slowly. “I’m sorry.”

Hera waves her away. “Don’t be. I asked.” She stands and studies Omega for a moment. “I… know what you mean,” she eventually whispers. “About listening to your baby brother…” she swallows and looks away. “I had a brother, once. Baldur is - was - two years younger than me, but we were inseparable. We were the children of General Cham Syndulla - no kids wanted to be our friends.” She looks down at the dirt ground. “All we ever had was each other.”

Omega swallows and takes Hera’s hand, squeezing it gently. This story isn’t going to have a happy ending; she can tell. “What happened?”

Hera closes her eyes. “I was ten when the Separatists invaded Ryloth. Baldur and me were playing with some other kids out in the field when a drop pod landed. A dozen commando droids came out of the pod and…” She sniffs and a tear runs down her cheek. “I managed to hide in an alley, but Baldur…”

Omega lowers them both so they’re sitting on the ground and wraps her arms around Hera. “I’m so sorry.”

“He died screaming for me to help him,” Hera cries into her shoulder, and it's enough to get Omega crying as well. She holds Hera tighter and tries not to think about them. One of the last clones to die was CT-9965. Strike. He was the fastest fighter of the 99s. The Kaminoans wanted to see how quick he was, so they sent him into a training simulation alone. And he did well until they switched to live rounds. Then it was…

Omega swallows and stares at the wood walls. This feeling…being the one that survives…it doesn’t get easier. It doesn’t make her feel less alone. The only survivors of the CT-99 program were CT-9904, CT-9936, CT-9924, and CT-9989. Crosshair, Hunter, Tech, Wrecker. They were identified as successes early on and sent to grow up with the regs. The only…the only clones she can identify with don’t even know her. 

The irony isn’t lost on her. 

She’s still alone because they don’t know what their brothers went through. 

Omega sighs and rests her chin on Hera’s shoulder. “You have to live for him,” she whispers softly. “I do.”

She tried; she really did. Tried to live for all her brothers that died on Kamino. And then she got captured and tortured by the Empire. But Hera can still live for her brother. Carry his memory with her. 

Sometimes that’s all they’ve got.

Omega pulls away from Hera and sends her a watery smile. “C’mon,” she whispers, standing and pulling Hera to her feet. “I think I can bully Hunter into making us dinner.”

Much like herself, Hera seems to be able to hide what she’s thinking. Because she almost seems…normal on the trip back home. She laughs about something stupid Kanan did and makes jokes at his expense. 

She can shake this stuff off easier than Omega can. 

She’s jealous.

‘Help me!’

‘Omega!’

Chapter Text

They’re here. A day early.

Hunter paces nervously as the Marauder lands on the loading dock. Omega’s not here right now; thank the force. She’s off with Hera and Kanan, and that’s good because he has no idea how to handle this. His plan was to have a sit-down talk with her tonight about the others coming. Her current strategy, don’t think about it, isn’t going to work. Not anymore. 

“Hunter!” Wrecker laughs and grabs him for a hug, nearly squeezing the life out of him. “Good to see ya!”

Hunter grunts and manages to pat Wrecker on the back. “You too, Wrecker.” He disengages from the embrace before his ribs cam break and turns to the other guys. Echo and Tech are carrying some crate - though they both nod and greet him - so Hunter turns to Crosshair. “Crosshair.”

The sniper offers him a nod. “How’s the kid?”

Yeah, his first question would be about Omega. Hunter sighs. “She’s not going to be happy to see you.”

Crosshair grunts and looks away. “Don’t blame her. Cody and I are tied to the most traumatic event of her life.”

Hunter weighs his options and rests a hand on Crosshair’s shoulder. “Give her time,” he suggests. “She’ll work through it eventually.”

“Not surprised she’s gone.” Crosshair tucks his helmet under his arm a little more securely and glances at him. “Where is she?”

Hunter sighs. That’s the other problem. “She’s with her friends,” he reveals slowly. Then he takes the plunge. “Crosshair… it’s Caleb Dume.”

Crosshair’s eyes widen minutely, but that’s the only reaction he gives. “What a reunion,” he mutters darkly. “I’m assuming the kid doesn’t know I’m here.”

“No.” Hunter looks away. “Omega’s worried he’s going to kill you.”

“Wouldn’t blame him.” Crosshair nods. “Your kid knows how to pick friends with trauma.”

Hunter huffs a laugh. “Yeah…” Syndulla seems normal enough, but then so did Omega, once. Hopefully the Twi’lek can offset Kanan’s anger. “You may want to avoid them for now.”

Crosshair hums. “Rex and Cody are headed to the command centre. Think I’ll head in with them.”

Hunter frowns. “You sure?”

“Don’t really want my head separated by a lightsaber.” Crosshair nods. “It makes sense.”

It does, more or less. Last time Crosshair was here, General Syndulla and his wife were captured, and Senator Taa was shot. There’s some level of responsibility on Crosshair’s shoulders. This way, he can begin to make things right while staying alive. 

And it gives him more time to warn Omega. 

Tonight’s going to be a fun night…

Hunter tries to think. This is putting Cody and Crosshair, the two people Omega’s been avoiding since that mission to Desix, right in the middle of the action. If he messes this up, it could undo all the progress they’ve made since coming here. Not only that, but it could shatter her friend group. Hunter has no idea how Kanan’s going to take the idea of Crosshair being posted in the same town as him. Anything could happen, and the Jedi aren’t like they used to be. 

He could…maybe he could have Omega’s friends come over. Not tonight - he might even suggest that Omega stays with the Syndullas tonight - but maybe tomorrow. That’ll give him time to get the boys up to speed on Omega, and give her time to adjust. This is…a big change. 

Right now, both Omega and Jarrus are ticking time-bombs. Syndulla seems to be the most level-headed of the trio - and he’s pretty sure she and Jarrus have something going on and that might help. 

It’s the best option he’s got right now. He doesn’t know what else to do. 

He doesn’t even know if this is a good idea. Could backfire worse than just putting Omega in a room with Cody and Crosshair. 

Sighing, he pulls out his comlink. “Omega. We need to talk.”

Chapter Text

Omega counts to five before opening the door and walking inside the house with the biggest grin she can manage. “Da-ad, I’m ho-ome,” she calls out in her best sing-song voice.

No response.

Omega frowns and drops into a crouch, gesturing for Kanan and Hera to do the same. Silently creeping forward, she pulls out her knife and peeks around the corner into the kitchen to see-

“There ya are, kid!”

It’s Wrecker. Omega lowers the knife and stands. She can hardly believe this. “Wrecker?”

Her brother laughs and engulfs her in a hug. “Hunter was worried you ran off!”

Omega relaxes in his embrace for a moment before pulling away, returning her knife to the sheath on the back of her belt. Wrecker’s here. She can see Tech and Echo standing off to the side with matching grins, and Hunter’s leaning on the kitchen counter, looking supremely smug. 

Her squad is back. Almost.

She opens her mouth to ask Hunter where Crosshair is but then glances back at Kanan, who already looks overwhelmed. 

She thinks she knows where Crosshair is.

Not wanting to open that issue with Kanan here, Omega turns her attention to Hunter. “You said you wanted to talk?”

Hunter eyes her friends before nodding. “Yeah, kid." He stands and almost seems to hesitate. “Was wondering if your friends wanted to stay the night?”

Why is he framing that like a question? It’s like that’s not what he wants to ask her. She didn’t even know the squad was back; could it be related? She knew they were coming tomorrow but she didn’t want to focus on it and now they’re here…

It’s possible she’s overanalysing this.

Instead of doing that, Omega turns to her friends. Hera’s looking relaxed and Kanan’s looking…not that. “Wanna spend the night?”

Hera nods but Kanan looks frozen. He’s just staring at Wrecker. Makes sense; the squad was there when Order 66 was issued. Omega grabs his hand and he flinches. Hard.

Oh shit.

Omega lets go and backs up a step, half-raising her hands. “Kanan?”

He almost seems…not there. Hera touches his shoulder and Kanan’s eyes slowly focus on her. He lets out a breath and his entire body slumps. He shuts his eyes and, after a minute, opens them to look at Omega. “I’m-I’m fine.”

‘I’m fine, Hunter.’

‘Drop it.’ 

Omega knows he’s lying, but nods anyway. She’s reminded of that night - the night Hunter pushed her too far and she broke. 

‘What the fuck do you want me to say?!’

Omega moves to stand beside Kanan, on the opposite side of Hera, and turns to look at Hunter. She's sure that's not what he was going to ask, but they're running with it. And no way would Kanan be comfortable with staying here with the squad. He barely likes Hunter. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

“We aren’t staying, Omega.” Echo’s eyes are locked on Kanan. “We’re just here to regroup. Marauder’s still our home.”

On some level, that means they’re distancing themselves from her, but Omega can’t focus on that right now. Her only goal is to get Kanan through this because she knows exactly what he’s feeling.

She hears Hunter sigh. “I’ll meet you guys there.” Her brothers give them - Kanan - a wide berth as they leave, and Hunter stays right where he is. “You okay, kid?”

She's honestly not sure who he's talking too. She's gotten too used to his stupid pet names; kid could be referring to her or Kanan. Or Hera. Like, if he asked, 'You okay, baby girl?' she'd be embarrassed and shit but at least she'd know he was talking to her.

She's going to assume it's Kanan then.

Kanan looks calm, but Omega’s not buying it. Based on how Hera’s gazing at him, she’s not either. “Fine.”

His tone is brusque; standoffish. Hunter simply nods and crouches on the ground to be closer to their level. “You can trust me, kid.” He calmly pulls out his knife and pistol and tosses them on the ground, sliding them away with his hand. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Kanan huffs. “You were there when they-” he sniffs and looks away. “Why should I trust you? And how can you trust me?”

“Because we want to help you.” Hunter looks at her for a second and smiles. “My daughter trusts you. That’s enough for me.”

Kanan glances at her and relaxes minutely. Enough so Omega looks over at Hunter and nods. “I’ll take them to my room.”

Hunter nods back and stands before folding his arms and staring at her. “Door open.”

What? Did Hunter not trust Kanan? Was all that just lies to get him to relax? Or is this about their dating talk a few nights back? If it is, what the fuck? Kanan’s not even her type! Not that her dad would know that, but still! And she’s not going to have that conversation with him. 

Ugh.

Omega just nods and moves to the stairs, gesturing for Kanan and Hera to follow her. Hera follows and Kanan trails behind her, glancing at Hunter every few seconds. He doesn’t relax until they’re up the stairs and in Omega’s room.

“So…” Omega pushes her door so it’s halfway closed. Still open. “That wasn’t awkward.”

Kanan sighs. It sounds like he’s past the fear and is now embarrassed with himself. “Sorry.”

Omega shrugs and sits on her bed. “Nothing to be sorry for.” 

Kanan sits down on the ground against the wall and Hera sits on the windowsill ledge. He looks down at his hands as he talks. “I know the clones aren’t out to get me. These clones, anyway.”

Omega leans forward. “None of them are, Kanan. The regs have chips in their heads that make them follow any order. It’s why-”

“-why they turned on my Master.” Kanan squeezes his eyes shut. “They fought alongside her for years and they gunned her down in a second! And then they came for me.” He opens his eyes and stares at her. “And you’re saying it’s not their fault?” 

She nods. “It isn’t. The order is wearing off; more regs are defecting from the Empire every day.”

“What about Crosshair?” Kanan folds his arms. “He was on your squad and he tried to kill me.”

‘What have they done to you?’

Omega swallows and nods. “Crosshair’s chip is out. He defected too.”

“Your squad is here. Is he?”

Omega hesitates. That’s a loaded question. There’s a reason Crosshair wasn’t with the others in the house and she’s pretty sure it’s because of this right here. But she hasn’t seen him, so, “I don’t know.” She leans forward and stares at Kanan. “I don’t know what you’re carrying, but you can trust me, Kanan. Please. I want to help.”

Kanan sighs and looks at Hera. “What do you think?”

She shrugs. “I trust Omega.” Hera smiles at her. “She knows her brothers better than we do. Plus, her dad is super protective of her. They wouldn’t be here if there was a risk the clones would be against them.”

Hera’s answer seems to get Kanan to relax. “Okay.” He turns back to Omega. “What’re we doing here?”

Omega smiles. “Sleepover?”

She doesn’t need Hunter to break down this word. Seems pretty explanatory. Your friends stay the night and sleep over. Simple enough. Sounds fun, even.

Kanan still looks a little shaken, but he nods. “Sure.”

. . . . . . . . . . 

It’s either 0300 and she’s not getting any sleep tonight or her fucking stupid clock is broken. And she’s pretty sure it’s not the chrono.

Omega sighs and looks out the window at the stars. Usually, right now is when she’d be creeping downstairs to grab a glass of water or walk around town or something. Go bug Hunter if he was awake. Or if she was in the mood to bug him. On sleepless nights like these, she's tempted to just...crawl into his bed and try and sleep. Those nights he fell asleep with her were some of the most relaxing nights she can think of. She rarely gets nightmares when Hunter's sleeping with her.

She can’t do any of that tonight because she’s pretty sure that, if she moves, Hera’s going to wake up. 

The actual sleeping arrangements are simple. Kanan’s in their guest room because Hunter doesn’t trust him or something and Hera’s bunking with Omega. Which is fine in theory, except no one warned her that Hera’s a Kaminoan Squid in her sleep. One of her arms is draped across Omega’s stomach and her head is pressed against her neck. Omega’s pretty sure twitching is impossible. 

She’s not sure why she can’t fall asleep. Being squished between the wall and Hera isn’t ideal, but it’s actually more comfortable than she would have thought. So it’s not that. Probably something to do with the fact her squad is back. Which means Crosshair’s here, and Cody probably is too. She’s not…she doesn’t know if she’s ready to see them again. Which is probably why Crosshair wasn’t here with the rest of the squad. 

She imagines that’s what Hunter wanted to talk with her about when he commed her this afternoon. But she couldn’t tell that from his voice, and since she was already with Kanan and Hera, thought they could come too. Worked out well for the sleepover, but everything else…

Omega forces that away and focuses on the sound of Hera’s breathing. Her friend’s been asleep for hours now and - great, now you’re being a creep by listening to her breathe. 

Omega sighs and closes her eyes. It’s nice, sleeping like this. Even if her left shoulder’s been asleep for hours because of Hera’s head. Lucky shoulder. 

Sucessful night, overall. They played a few rounds of dejarik - even if it wasn’t so much a match whenever Kanan or Hera faced Omega - and ate lots of food. Seriously. They have fruit now! And there’s no ration limit! She can just walk up to the cooling chamber, grab whatever she wants, and Hunter won’t say a word about it! Hera introduced her to meilooruns and they are amazing! 

There’s lots of changes because of their move to Ryloth, but Omega thinks that’s the best one of all. 

Omega shifts as much as she dares and adjusts her hold on Lula. She’s getting better on sleeping without needing her, but the idea of having a nightmare tonight, with Hera in her bed, was a horrible thought. Hera didn’t know and she didn’t need to know, so Omega played it off as just a stuffed toy. Hera thought she was cute, so it worked out.

The door creaks softly as it opens and Omega lifts her head as much as she dares when Hunter peeks through it. “Everything okay?”

She nods as much as she dares. “Yeah.” It’s more like she’s mouthing the response than saying it, but Hunter understands. He nods back, mouths 'I love you', and dips out of the room. 

Omega sighs softly. Hunter wasn’t even surprised that she’s still up. She’s not really surprised she’s up. But, since she is up, she may as well start planning. 

Based on everything she witnessed today, odds are it comes to blows between Kanan and Crosshair. So they have to be careful. Crosshair being gone today was the right call, but it’s not fair to keep asking that of him. At some point, they’ll have to meet.

If it’s going to happen, Omega would rather the outcome she can influence. So she can-

Sudden pain flares up in her right arm and Omega twitches involuntarily. She freezes, even holding her breath to see if she woke Hera up. And then, a few seconds later, comes her voice. “Omega?”

It’s laced with sleep and she can’t open her eyes, but Hera’s awake. For…at least these few seconds. Omega sighs. “Hey.”

“Why’rn’t you sleeping?” Hera shifts slightly; her arm moving from Omega’s stomach. Omega watches as she rubs her eyes and then looks at her. “You’re not asleep?”

“Obviously not.” Omega shrugs and plays with the corner of her blanket. Please don’t ask why please don’t ask why please don’t-

“You okay?”

Fuck.

Omega sighs again. “Fine.”

Her friend gives a tired laugh as she slips off the bed; kneeling down to grab something under the bed. “Right.” She pops back up with a bottle of water and takes a sip as she climbs back into bed, resting on the backboard. “I’ll pretend to believe that.”

Another sigh. She should see if she can take up sighing as a job; she’s getting good at it. “I don’t sleep well at night,” she admits. “Okay?”

Hera hums and offers her the bottled water. Omega nods and takes it, spinning the cap off the top before taking a sip. She lets the cold water rest in her mouth for a second before swallowing and handing the bottle back to Hera. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Hera stills before slowly nodding. "Okay."

Double fuck. She could have just left it alone. Instead, she practically lit an Aurebesh sign that connects her trouble sleeping with her being captured by the Empire, which Hera also knows about!

She should have just pretended to be asleep. Stupid arm.

Omega rolls over so she’s facing the wall and just stares at it. Eventually, Hera will get tired and go back to sleep. Omega can’t because if she does-

-the whirl of the IT-O droid floating closer; the sharp prick of a needle going into her neck; the burning sensation that floods her veins and the-

-she sees things she doesn’t want to.

Maybe thirty seconds pass before Hera lies down on the bed and gently touches Omega’s shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re carrying,” she whispers, “but you can trust me, Omega. Please. I want to help.”

Triple fuck. Now Hera’s using the exact words Omega said to Kanan. That’s not fair. And Omega’s not up for a trip down memory hyperspace lane. Not tonight. Not any night.

So she says nothing. But Hera’s breathing never changes; she never falls back asleep. They just…lie there. Omega’s not sure what’s going to come first; her falling asleep out of exhaustion or Hunter waking them up. Either way, tomorrow’s gonna be a shitty day. 

She can’t wait.

Chapter Text

The next time he pokes his head in, it’s 0700 hours. And both girls are asleep. He’s glad because Omega looked wide awake when he checked up on them at 0400. Shortly after that, he heard whispered talking, but they’re asleep now. It looks like a fitful sleep; lots of tossing and turning from Omega, but it’s still sleep.

So all in all, this was a success. Wasn’t how he planned it, but they at least have an idea of how Kanan’s going to react to Crosshair. So, that’s going to be fun. But, still. Omega had no nightmares; didn’t get up for any reason; actually got decent sleep, it looks like. Probably the best night they’ve had so far. 

Right, so all the kids are asleep and that’s fine. Hunter has some work to do around the house anyway. There are dishes of half-eaten food that need to be disposed of and then cleaned; there’s an open window in the sitting room; the dejarik table is still on.

Hunter smiles as he moves down the stairs. They’ve barely been here a week and he’s already thinking like a parent. A year ago, he was single-focused in his desire to protect his squad while still trying to be a soldier. Now…he’s realised there are more important things than that.

He has a daughter now. Not a biological one, but he’s learned that means nothing. It’s a completely different responsibility. He protects his squad, but he grew up with them. They’re soldiers just like he is. They were all trained by the Republic to lay down their lives without a second thought. They were trained to hold their closest brothers at arms length because it only takes one blaster bolt to end them. 

Omega has none of that training. She’s not a soldier and it’s Hunter’s fault for trying to make her one. The kid can kill and feel nothing. That’s on him. It’s his fault she was on Serenno; it’s his fault she was captured. 

She depends on him in a different way to his squad. Doesn’t matter if she’s technically older than he is, he is responsible for her survival. The kid didn’t even know what dirt was when he took her off Kamino. His first thought was right; he should have just found a planet for them to lay low. Then none of this would be happening. Omega wouldn’t be dealing with flashbacks and panic attacks. She could actually have a life!

Hunter stops cold. Boil’s question still rolls around in his head. Take him out of the picture; would Omega have a better life without him? She’d be on Kamino, but without him, Kamino might not have fallen. He doesn’t truly know what Kamino was like for her, but it has to be better than torture at the hands of the Empire for months.

He hasn't stopped to ask himself why. Why take Omega off Kamino in the first place? It was only a short time before that when he warned Omega to stay away; that the squad was nothing but trouble. He went from that to taking the kid off Kamino and subjecting her to an unforgiving galaxy. Getting her captured by bounty hunters and spice lords. Opening whatever issues she buried when she went back to Kamino for him. 

Nearly getting her killed on the Serenno op. He's not protecting her. He's killing her. Slowly. Moment by moment; mission by mission, that innocent kid who never saw dirt before is dying. Being replaced by a soldier; just like them. He's turning a kid into a soldier; how is he any different from the Kaminoans?

He shakes his head. He has to get out of here.

. . . . . . . . . . 

He ends up going to the command centre. Probably a decent idea to check up on the squad. The Marauder was empty when he stopped by, so they must be here. Maybe they have a mission or some paperwork to fill out. Something; anything to distract him from the awful reality he's discovered.

Maybe he can try-

“Don’t you think he’s taking this dad thing a little too far?”

Hunter freezes in his tracks. That’s Cody’s voice. And he has to be talking about him and Omega. He’s about to go over there when another voice speaks. “What do you mean?”

It’s Tech. 

Cody sighs. “I mean, she’s practically welded to his side. She calls him dad even though we’re all brothers, and they sometimes sleep in the same bed. You don’t think that’s a little off?”

“I do not. Omega’s behaviour is a reaction to her trauma.” He can almost imagine Tech reading from a datapad. “Omega was taken from her family - us - and thrust into an unfamiliar environment. She was then tortured for nearly two months before Hunter rescued her. It is a logical conclusion that Omega would have trouble sleeping by herself or being alone.”

Cody grunts. “And the others?”

“It is a similar principle. Hunter and Omega have always been close, but her experiences at Mount Tantiss damaged key parts of her personality. In response to such trauma, she has developed a form of age regression.”

“You mean acting younger than she is.”

“Precisely. In Omega’s mind, she can no longer take care of herself. So she relies on the person who rescued her in the first place. Her actions around Hunter are a logical next step.”

“What do you mean?”

Tech’s silent for a few moments. “Omega… is not like you or I. We were created to fight. Omega was created to be a part of a family. Her mindset is different to ours. Clones were engineered to be able to move past trauma; Omega was not. Omega requires a stable environment to sustain her. From what I have gathered, Alpha is similar in this regard.”

Hunter shifts closer. Leave it to Tech to study all this out. 

“Omega is aware of her created purpose. She sees herself as a daughter to a dead man. Before Tantiss, Omega used to jokingly refer to Hunter as her father. Now she means it.”

“So why does Hunter encourage her behaviour?”

Tech sighs. “One of Omega’s largest fears is losing Hunter. She does whatever it takes to protect him because she cannot imagine growing up without him. She calls him dad because it separates him from her brothers. It is a reassurance in her mind that she will never be alone again.”

“What does that have to do with Hunter?”

“Omega is terrified of losing Hunter. He feels the exact same about her. He has only been her father in acting capacity for three months, but he is already very different from who he was in the War.”

Cody says something else but Hunter turns away. Tech’s analysis is, as usual, right, but there’s another layer. They were created to be soldiers; to fight for the Republic. Since the Empire, all that’s gone. And with it, their sense of purpose. Sure, they’re mercenaries and sometimes-rebels, but that sense of purpose is still gone. It’s what Crosshair offered them back on Kamino.

What he can’t explain to the others is how his changed relationship with Omega makes him feel. The sense of purpose; of identity it gives him. He isn’t just Hunter; isn’t just a clone; isn’t just a soldier anymore, he’s Omega’s dad. His purpose is to protect that little girl and make sure she has the best life possible. 

He’s a parent, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Maybe Omega’s life would be better off without him. Maybe she would have been spared all the trauma that she’s experienced since leaving Kamino with them. Maybe. But, at the end of the day, he’ll never know.

What he does know is that there is a little girl that calls him dad. A kid who depends on him; trusts in him. A kid who sees how messed up he is and still loves him anyway. They’re both messed up and they form the most dysfuntional family this side of the galaxy, but they are a family. They’re together in this. 

Hunter’s a parent and he came to Ryloth to protect his daughter. So if he’s going to be involved, he’s going to be involved the right way. No missions; no risks. Just unconditional love and support. Starting now. He’ll go back to the house and actually get involved in his daughter’s life. 

It’s the least he owes her.

Chapter Text

Things are…awkward…when she wakes up.

For one, she doesn’t remember falling asleep. Her last lucid thought was if she’d still be awake when Hunter checked back in. Apparently not. 

For two, she was really hoping her conversation with Hera last night was just a dream, but Hera’s been eying her weirdly since they woke up, so she’s thinking that’s a no. 

She ignores Hera while she changes into her day clothes, stuffing her night clothes in her pack. They’ve been here just over a week and she’s yet to actually unpack her stuff. Probably should get on that eventually.

Omega steps out of her room and sighs, running a hand through her hair. Okay, priorities. Her shit with Hera can wait, it’s Kanan’s reaction to Crosshair that worries her. He’s still somewhat hostile towards Hunter; she doesn’t want to imagine Crosshair. 

So that’s going to be fun.

Hunter’s sitting at the counter when she emerges downstairs, and he offers her a smile. “Hey, kiddo. How’d the sleepover go?”

She sighs again, moving to sit down next to him. “Hera suspects,” she tells him dourly, reaching for a plate of space waffles. She doesn’t want to keep talking, so she starts eating.

Hunter hums. “She’s a good kid. Not the type to spread that around town.”

Omega shakes her head and swallows. “No.” She cuts another piece of waffle and thinks over her next words. “She’s…been through a lot. Had to grow up fast.”

“Yeah…” Now it’s Hunter’s turn to sigh. “War will do that to you.”

Omega doesn’t really know how to respond to that. 

She knows Hunter feels guilty for what happened to her. She knows that guilt goes beyond that mission to Serenno. Even though it’s not his fault; it’s hers. 

But they’ve been over this argument a hundred times by now. So she just stays quiet and eats her waffles. 

Hera is the next person to come down the stairs; all packed up with her bag over her shoulder. “Morning, Omega’s dad.”

Hunter just chuckles and kicks out a chair for her next to Omega, sliding a plate of the pancakes to the spot. “Morning, Omega’s friend. Sleep okay?”

Hera shrugs as she sits down. “Not bad.” She glances at Omega. “Woke up in the middle of the night for a bit.”

Omega stills but Hunter covers for her by nodding. “Thought I heard voices. Glad it wasn’t Omega talking to herself.” His foot nudges her leg lightly and she forces a smile onto her face. 

Is Hera mad at her? She’s not sure why; it’s not Hera’s problem. Sure, Omega made it kinda sorta weird last night, but still. 

She’s not going to fight about it. She’s just going to let it go. 

She turns and smiles at Hera. “What’s your plan for the day?”

Hera stares at her for a moment too long before shrugging. “Might go exploring with Kanan.”

“Really?” Hunter buts in with a grin on his face. “Omega’s all about exploring.”

Omega frowns and glances at Hunter. “What?”

He nods. “Yeah.”

O…kay, so Hunter’s trying to get her out of the house for some reason. She’s mostly past her fear of him abandoning her, so this has to be about something else.

Or…is this an exercise in trust? Trust Hunter enough to stay away from him for an entire day; see how she did.

She’s reluctant, but she nods. “Sure.”

There’s a somewhat awkward silence at the table that ends when Hera stands and looks towards the stairs. “Is Kanan still asleep?”

“Nope.” Hunter shakes his head. “Left here real early. Looked like he hadn’t slept at all.”

That makes Hera leave the house, leaving Omega and Hunter alone. And as soon as they are alone, Omega glares at him. “Why are you making me go with them?”

Hunter tries to grin. “I just want you to-”

“Bullshit!” Omega folds her arms. “You’re keeping me out of town. Why?”

The grin is wiped off Hunter’s face and he leans forward. “Crosshair’s coming into town later today. Based on what I saw, I think Kanan’s going to attack him. If I can get all you kids out of here, I’m going to try.”

“No way.” Omega stands and shakes her head. “If Kanan’s going to attack Crosshair, you’re going to need me and Hera to talk him down! And you know Crosshair. He’s going to defend himself.”

That awkward silence returns for a brief moment until Omega steps towards Hunter. “I know you want to protect me, Hunter. But Hera and me might be the only ones who can stop this from happening.”

It takes a moment, but Hunter eventually sighs and nods. “You’re sure you can do this?” He touches her arm. “What happens if you see Crosshair and you freeze?”

Omega forces all her feelings into the box and slams the lid. “I won’t.”

. . . . . . . . . . 

“When is Crosshair supposed to come here?”

Her dad sighs. “He didn’t say. Shouldn’t be-”

A blaster fires and a lightsaber ignites. Omega trades a glance with Hunter before sprinting to the landing bay. And she finds Kanan nearby, holding his ignited lightsaber in both hands. On the other side of the bay is Crosshair. His sniper is still in his pack but he’s holding a pistol. 

Kanan points the lightsaber at Crosshair. “Don’t you move!”

Chapter Text

Hunter grabs Omega's shoulder to keep her still as Kanan turns to them. “Stay out of this, Hunter!”

Hunter nods and raises his free hand. “Kid. Crosshair isn’t going to hurt you.”

Kanan’s lightsaber is pointed at Crosshair and he’s fingering his holstered pistol. “You said that before, too.”

Hunter lets go of Omega and takes a small step forward. “You’re right. But things are different now. You can trust us.”

He can see it; the paranoia in Kanan’s eyes. He doesn’t even blame the kid. Kanan backs up a step and holds onto his lightsaber with both hands. “Stay back!”

Hunter raises both his hands. “Easy, kid.”

This is a too-familiar situation. Trying to calm a Jedi so he won’t run. This time, though, Omega’s here. And she’s fearless as she advances; moving so fast that Hunter can’t even grab at her. “Omega!”

His daughter moves until she’s only a few metres from Kanan and calmly pulls out her pistol and knife, tossing them to the ground. “It’s okay, Kanan.”

Kanan backs up a few more steps and pulls out his pistol, training it on-

“Not at her.” Hunter moves to the side and nods at the kid. “Point it at me.”

Kanan’s eyes flick to Omega before swinging his pistol off of her to aim at him. Hunter nods again. “Kid, it’s okay.”

“Stop saying that!” Now his lightsaber is pointed at Omega and that’s so much worse. “Just shut up!”

Crosshair’s been slowly circling his way to Hunter during all of this, and he finally stops next to him. “We need to end this.”

Hunter doesn’t take his eyes off Kanan as he talks in a whisper. “How?”

Crosshair’s silent for a minute. “I could stun him.”

Hunter shakes his head. “No. You couldn’t tag him when you were trying to kill him; you won’t be able to stun him.”

“Then Omega.”

No way. He could easily see how that idea backfires. Omega tries to stun Kanan, misses, then Kanan takes her captive or just kills her. No. “Not worth the risk.”

“So what’s the plan, Hunter?”

Hunter tries not to panic. “I don’t know.”

. . . . . . . . . . 

Omega shifts closer to Kanan. She’s starting to feel the heat from his laser sword, but she has to trust he won’t kill her. “Kanan, it’s okay.”

“What do you know?” He’s close to the wall of a cliff; there’s nowhere else for him to go. Omega has no idea what he’s going to do next. “You don’t know anything about me!”

“You’re right; I don’t.” Omega glances back briefly at Hunter and Crosshair. “But I know them. I trust Hunter more than I trust anyone else.”

“Because he’s your dad?” Kanan scoffs and lifts the lightsaber so the tip is pointed at Omega. “No way a clone’s your dad.”

Omega nods. Hopefully this works. “I’m not biologically his daughter, but that doesn’t mean anything.” Mindful of the laser sword, she inches forward. “You were a Jedi. So you had a Master. Weren’t they like your parent?”

Kanan scowls and looks away before reluctantly nodding. “And they killed her.”

Okay, so this was backfiring. Different tactic. “What happens if you kill Crosshair? You really think it’ll help?” She scoffs and shifts forward. “You think things will just go back to normal?”

Kanan narrows his eyes. “Omega…”

“And then what? You gonna kill my dad?” Omega shakes her head. “Then you better kill me too. How many people have to die for your revenge, Kanan?”

“It would just be him-”

“-no it wouldn’t.” Omega folds her arms. “You think that, but you kill one clone, how are the others going to take it? You gonna kill Howzer? Boil? Where does it stop?”

Kanan’s glaring at Crosshair. “So what do I do?”

Omega moves until she’s directly in front of him and lays a hand on his arm. “Just stop,” she whispers. “End the cycle of violence.”

Kanan shakes his head. “You don’t know what you’re asking me to do.”

No, not really. And Omega knows that, if someone killed Hunter; if she watched Hunter die like Kanan watched his Master, she’d take out everyone who had a hand in it. So she’s something of a hypocrite, but she wants to save Crosshair. He saved her once. 

Maybe…

“I was captured by the Empire,” she reveals softly. Now Kanan’s attention is on her. Omega swallows and continues. “I was… was tortured for two months.” That gets Kanan to lower the lightsaber. Omega looks down. “The only reason I’m alive is because of Crosshair. He was there for me when no one else was.”

Kanan’s staring at her in…she’s going to guess shock. His lightsaber is loosely held in his hands and he’s returned his pistol to its holster. Omega backs up a few steps and hugs her arms over her chest. Just saying those words hurt, but it’ll be worth it if it gets Kanan to stand down.

She eventually looks back up at him. “I’m asking you. Please. Just let him go. You don’t have to forgive him; just don’t kill him.”

Kanan slowly nods and switches off the lightsaber, returning it to his belt. “Fine.”

Then he takes off running.

Omega feels like she should go after him but she’s suddenly drained of energy. She feels like she could sleep for a week. Sighing, she turns around and makes her way back to Hunter and Crosshair. 

Hunter kneels on the ground once she reaches him and he picks her up, letting her rest on his shoulder. “You okay?”

Omega nods and closes her eyes. “You might want to avoid Kanan for a while, Crosshair.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Hunter’s warm hand runs over her back. “You did good, kid.”

She smiles at the praise and struggles not to fall asleep. She’s not sure if it’s talking down Kanan or the fact that she got all of two hours of sleep last night, but she’s exhausted. 

. . . . . . . . . . 

“I’ll keep an eye on him.” Hunter adjusts the sleeping Omega in his arms. “He trusts me more than you, at any rate.”

“You didn’t take shots at him.” Crosshair turns back to where Kanan ran away and sighs. “Can’t blame the kid if he still wants to kill me.”

Hunter rests his free hand on Crosshair’s shoulder. “You want to start making things right? Start with the kid. It’ll be easier living here if he doesn’t want to kill us every time we meet.”

“Hmm.” Crosshair glances at him. “What’re you going to do?”

Hunter turns away. “Put her to bed. She’s had a long day.”

“It’s 0800.”

He sighs. “Yeah. Pretty sure she didn’t sleep last night. Gonna have a messed-up sleep cycle for a while, I think.” He glances back at Crosshair. “You and the boys have any missions?”

“Search-and-Destroy.”

Hunter chuckles. “That’ll keep Wrecker happy.” He nods. “You’ll get back into sync with them. Just give it time.”

“Unless the kid kills me first.”

Yeah. Omega might have talked Kanan down this time, but what if it happens again? He doesn’t want to fight the kid, but if it comes down to it?

But fighting back would only validate Kanan’s fears and things would escalate. Maybe it’s the dad inside Hunter, but he cares about this kid. He doesn't want to see Kanan hurt any more than seeing Crosshair hurt. 

And things were calm an hour ago. Kanan’s gone; Omega’s asleep on his shoulder; he hasn’t seen Hera since breakfast, but he’s willing to bet she’s with Kanan right now. He’s just hoping this isn’t going to destroy Omega’s relationship with her friends. 

He begins walking back to the house, trying to plan as he goes. It might be worth inviting Kanan over some night, just to try and talk to him. Maybe play a round of dejarik with him. Do something that starts to put him at ease around clones. Or, more specifically, his squad. Kanan seems fine around Howzer and Boil.

Hunter lays Omega on her bed and pulls the covers up over her, bending down to kiss her forehead while he’s at it. Then he stands and moves to the window, pulling the blackout curtain down so the room’s actually dark enough to sleep. 

Then he steps out of the room and, with another look at Omega, closes the door.

Chapter Text

Her dad is going to kill her.

Omega swallows and double-checks the datapad. It’s been a month since the standoff with Kanan and things have settled into a sort of calm. Crosshair still does his best to avoid Kanan, and Kanan’s privately admitted to feeling some unease around Hunter. 

But this calm has led to Hunter being a little freer with what he says around her- or what he says when he thinks she isn’t listening. 

Things she’s learned: That scary admiral guy is named Rampart; he wants her to keep Nala Se in line; the name of her prison was Tantiss.

She could have gone her entire life without ever learning the name of her prison and died happy. But she knows it now. And a talk with Hera led Omega to figure something else out - that’s where her bow is.

Omega would love nothing more than to forget the name Tantiss and would rather die than go back inside, but her bow is in there. The bow she’s been missing for three and a half months. She still doesn’t feel safe even with the knife or the pistol. 

She needs her bow.

Rex's saying about her weapon being her life keeps ringing through her head. She hasn't felt normal since being captured; could finding her bow help with that?

Worth a shot.

So she conscripted Hera - who’s becoming a pretty good pilot - and Kanan - who actually snuck aboard the ship to join them - into a mission to go to Tantiss and grab her bow. 

Hera’s still not completely understanding the risk, but Kanan does. He told them it’s the same thing with his lightsaber. So he’s on board.

Omega’s thinking Hera came just to say ‘I told you so’ when it all goes south.

And if this goes south, there’s no safety net. The Batch doesn’t know they’re here. There’s no Crosshair or Cody - in fact, all the clones have been decommissioned because of some bill passed in the Senate. If she’s captured again, Rampart will know very quickly and that’ll be it. 

That realisation was enough for Omega to back out of the op, leaving Kanan the sole driving force. Which was a mistake, since he’s a Jedi. He still managed to get them here.

“Hey.” Kanan’s near-silent whisper draws her out of her introspection and she refocuses. They’re crawling through the ventilation system, heading to where Hera - who’s staying behind as backup/electronic support - says the armoury is.

Omega nods and crawls forward, moving as slow as possible to keep from making noise. They’ve been at this an hour and Hera only has an approximate location on the armoury. She doesn’t dare move any faster or try and guess. She’s trying everything she can to keep her mind off the fact that she is willingly stepping back into Hell. 

But, she has a Jedi for backup. Against…an empire that destroyed thousands of Jedi…

Why the fuck had she agreed to this plan?

So now her second thoughts were having second thoughts and it’s far too late to turn back. Swallowing her fear, Omega continues to crawl forward. She-

“Prisoner 804’s pretty lively today.”

“Yeah, blasted Wookie nearly ripped my arm off earlier.”

Omega freezes, listening to the two troopers below them talk. They weren’t clones; these had to be the new stormtroopers. And they were talking about some prisoner. 

‘So, you’re the one they call C-02.”

Omega swallows at the ghost of Rampart’s voice in her head, trying to slow down her breathing to not draw attention. She can feel Kanan’s eyes on her and shuts everything she’s feeling behind a locked camtono. She’s not going to risk the mission just because of some bad memories!

She keeps on crawling until her comlink vibrates twice; Hera’s pre-arranged signal that she should be on top of the armoury. Omega holds her breath as she eases a vent cover off and pokes her head down. 

She smiles when she sees weapons.

“Let’s go,” she soflty whispers back to Kanan before moving out of the vent, dropping down below and stilling. She doesn’t hear anything, so maybe she’s clear?

She doesn’t wait to find out.

She quickly looks around the armoury and almost panics when she can’t find her bow. It should be easy to find; it’s bright gold amid countless black weapons. She should see it, but she isn’t. 

Okay. Don’t panic, don’t panic. It has to be here somewhere. 

The walls almost seem to close around her and Omega moves without thinking, jumping up into the vent shaft and closing the gate cover. She then lets her head fall onto the cool metal as she struggles to think.

Her bow has to be here. It has to be. There’s no other place it could be. But if it’s not in the armoury, then where could it be?

Rampart’s office?

It’s the only other place that makes sense, but she has no way of knowing where that is. And Hera won’t be able to locate it; not in the time they have left. 

Omega squeezes her eyes shut and activates her comm. “Clear out,” she whispers. “It’s a bust.”

Her dad is going to kill her.

Chapter Text

“Omega!” Hunter checks her room for a fourth time and strives to stay calm. She’s fine. She’s fine. She knows better than to leave without letting him know. 

Even so, he can’t help but worry. She’s…changed. Started a few weeks back, but she’s slowly reverted to that quiet and nervous personality she had in the direct aftermath of Tantiss. And he doesn’t know why.

He’s tried talking to her, but she hasn’t shared anything useful. More feels like she’s trying to keep him away. 

Something’s changed and he has no idea what.

And now she’s gone.

The squad’s gone too; off on some mission. He wasn’t in the briefing, but they’re apparently destroying some imperial outpost or something. But they won’t know where Omega is either. 

That leaves…

Hunter activates his comm. “Boil. Have you seen Omega?”

“Negative,” the ARC replies instantly. “Haven’t seen her at all today.”

Okay, don’t panic. Don’t panic. She’s fine; she’s fine. She has to be. 

He just has to stay focused. Omega’s not in her room; she’s not in their house. But she is around. And he’ll find her. But he won’t be able to if he doesn’t remain calm.

That calm vanishes when he finds her comlink.

Hunter stares at the comm as though expecting it to give him answers. Why would Omega leave it here? Her knife and her pistol are both gone but her comlink is here. Why?

The first answer he comes up with scares him. She left it behind because she’s doing something she doesn’t want him to find out about. 

This situation just got far worse. 

Hunter goes back to his own comlink. “Jarrus, come in.”

Silence.

Before he can ask again, a second channel on his comm is opened. “Sergeant, have you seen my daughter?”

It’s General Syndulla. Hunter looks out the window at the town below. “No, General. I can’t find my daughter either. Kanan Jarrus is also gone.”

So Omega, Kanan, and Hera are all gone. Omega left her comm here. Hunter looks down at his comm. “General, are any starships missing?”

. . . . . . . . . . 

“What’s going on?”

Hunter ignores Echo as he rushes onto the Marauder. “Omega’s gone. She left with Syndulla and Jarrus.” He straps himself in and begins to upload coordinates. “They took a starship and General Syndulla traced that ship to Wayland.”

Everything falls silent. Hunter finishes plotting a course and turns to his squad. “I know you all have your own things going on, but-”

“Save it, Hunter.” Crosshair folds his arms and leans against the hull of the ship. “You’re wasting time talking to us.”

That’s Crosshair for ‘hurry up and get going’. He’s worried.

Hunter nods and begins to prep the Marauder for takeoff. “Cody, I need you to round up as many men as you can without compromising Ryloth and meet us on Wayland.”

“Copy. I can take a ship and head there with Rex and Boil. Any more will compromise our position.”

Hunter nods. “Understood.” Rex and Boil are experienced clone troopers and he trusts them. “We’ll sync up in the forest outside of Tantiss.”

He can’t relax; not until he has Omega safe. Not until they’re both safe on Ryloth. 

Why would Omega go to Tantiss?

It’s a question that burns through his mind as he guides the Marauder into hyperspace. How does Omega even know what Tantiss is? 

If she found out recently, that would explain why she’s so withdrawn now. Omega made a big deal in the beginning about not wanting to know anything about Tantiss or Rampart. Her going to Tantiss means she did find something out. 

And the only thing that makes sense to Hunter is her bow.

He had to make a choice during Omega’s extraction. And they were waiting for the heat to die down so they could go back, but the window hadn’t occurred yet. 

Omega just forced their hand.

He doesn’t relax as the Marauder jumps into hyperspace. He’s too geared up. His kid is back inside her personal hell, except this time was her choice. He doesn’t even truly know what she went through; she’s still incredibly tight-lipped and Crosshair is honouring that by being equally silent. 

He understands that, but he doesn’t like going into situations blind. 

The rest of the squad seems as anxious as he is. The ship is, for once, dead silent. It’s a two-day journey to Wayland and Hunter doesn’t expect any of them to relax in that time. 

He knows he won’t.

Chapter Text

‘So, you’re the one they call C-02.’

‘Prep Interrogation Three.’

“-can’t just sneak in and grab it!” Omega forces herself to listen to what Kanan’s saying. “Whoever runs this place is going to have heightened security!”

‘Sir, she’s just a child!’

Hera says something in response but Omega can’t hear her. All she hears is the whirl of that IT-O droid coming closer ready to bring pain and make her skin crawl and burn and the hurt doesn’t end it never ends and she can’t do anything to stop it she just want-

A hand touches her shoulder and Omega reacts on instinct, grabbing at the arm and twisting so she can throw the person over her shoulder. Grabbing her holstered knife at the small of her back, she dips down to rest the blade of the knife against the neck of-

Kanan stays completely still, arms half-raised and a weak smile on his face. “Sorry, Omega.”

Omega reels back and drops the knife onto the ground, turning away in horror. She almost killed her friend. Doesn’t matter if he has fancy Force powers; she could have seriously hurt him. Because she can’t control what she’s thinking about.

Gods, this was a horrible idea.

Hera appears in her field of view and offers Omega a small smile. “He’s fine.”

Omega shakes her head. “It - it doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have-“

“Omega.” Now Kanan appears. “It’s okay.” He looks away. “I know how it is.”

Yeah, she supposes he does. He still starts around Hunter and sometimes even reaches for his lightsaber before remembering. She imagines it isn’t that different to what she’s dealing with. 

Doesn’t make her feel any less guilty.

She huffs and sits down on the ground, resting her head in her hands. “We should just go home,” she murmurs.

“What about the mission?” Kanan sounds closer; he’s probably kneeling next to her. “We came here for your bow. We can’t-“

Omega’s head shoots up. “We can. We can just go home.” The longer she stays on Wayland, the more she feels it. She hates this place with every fibre of her being and sneaking through the vents had jostled memories she would love nothing more than to forget about. 

As weak and childish as it is, she wants her dad. Maybe having her bow back would help with the waves of memory, but she’s learned that Hunter always helps. Even just being near him is enough sometimes. 

And what happens if she goes back in and hears Rampart’s voice? It’ll all be over. As skilled as Kanan is, one Jedi can’t get her out of Tantiss if she gets as out of it as she was on that mission to rescue Crosshair.

She won’t put her friends through that. 

Omega gathers that resolve and stands, staring first at Hera and then at Kanan. “No. We’re going home. We can worry about my bow another time.”

She hardens her face; makes sure everything she’s feeling stays hidden. Hera still doesn’t know what happened here and Omega wants to keep it that way. Not that she doesn’t trust Hera, but…she doesn’t want her friend to look at her differently. Kanan doesn’t, but he also knows what she’s going through. The PTSD and panic attack and all the shit Hunter warned her about. He knows. Hera doesn’t.

Hera still looks at her like she’s normal and Omega doesn’t want to lose that. 

Omega kneels down and picks her knife off the ground, wiping the dirt off the blade before returning it to its holster. “Let’s go.”

“Omega…”

She folds her arms and glares at Kanan. “I’ll leave you behind,” she threatens. 

Not a threat she can back up, since Hera’s flying and she and Kanan have some weird relationship thing going on. Hera isn’t going to leave him behind but the threat works enough to shut Kanan up.

Good enough for her. 

. . . . . . . . . . 

“Can we talk?”

Omega sighs and opens her eyes to look at Hera. “What?”

The Twi’lek looks concerned; her lekku are twitching slightly. Omega’s not fluent in Ryl, but she knows a few signs. “What happened at Tantiss?”

‘What have they done to you?’

‘Cr’ss’hr.’

Omega folds her arms and continues the movement so her arms are wrapped around her body. “I- nothing.”

Hera’s eyes narrow slightly and Omega turns away. If she thinks too hard, she can feel the prick of the needle; the way every nerve ending seemed to be on fire once the IT-O droid got started. And no matter how much she screamed and cried the droid didn’t pay any attention it wasn’t focused on her and Rampart didn’t care he didn’t even care if she answered his questions it was like he liked seeing her in pain and-

Omega forcibly pulls herself out of that memory and refocuses on Hera. “I’m fine, Hera.”

Hera smiles, but it’s distinctly sad. “I wish you would trust me,” she whispers softly before walking back to the cockpit.

Omega sighs. Yeah, a part of her wishes she trusts Hera too. But she likes their friendship and she doesn’t want to fuck it up, and she knows that’s what would happen if she revealed what happened on Tantiss. 

She just…wants to forget. 

Hunter’s fresh start thing is bullshit. She’s not free of the fucking memories or the flashbacks. And when it comes at the cost of nearly hurting her friends, then she’s worse than she was before they came here. At least living on the Marauder, the only person she was hurting was herself. 

She’s never really had friends before; she didn’t know what it was like. She knew Shaeeah and Jek for all of a day before never seeing them again and only knew Hera for the span of one mission. Things were easier, in a way, before they got close. Sure, she was quietly self-destructing, but at least she wasn’t hurting her friends by not talking. 

Or something. She’s too tired to figure any of this out. 

She turns her chair away and looks out at the whirls of hyperspace. Now all she has to do is figure out Hunter’s reaction to their failed mission. 

She is so grounded.

Chapter Text

He’s somehow more tense this time.

Their arrival on Wayland was…quiet. And he’s not trying to be quiet. All he wants is his daughter back and he doesn’t care what happens along the way. 

But this quiet is worse than an active firefight.

Hunter forces his nervousness back and flashes a hand signal at the squad. Five seconds. 

They’re going to get Omega back. Stealth isn’t a priority now. Every Imp could die and he wouldn’t care. All through the trip here, his mind was just creating worse scenarios. Maybe she’s captured again. Maybe she’s being interrogated. Maybe-

He presses the detonator and forces those thoughts out of his mind as the door blows open. “Me and Crosshair will secure the command centre. Wrecker; Echo, check the detention level. See if you can find them. Tech, open all the security gates.”

Tech’s on the Marauder, in case they need a quick getaway and he’s also watching the cams. He’s got their back but that does little to ease Hunter’s fear. 

They all give the affirmative and go in, splitting up to accomplish their objectives. Hunter follows Crosshair and ignores the blaring alarm. They keep their weapons out, ready to deal with the TK troopers but…there’s no response. 

Last time, he couldn’t go ten metres without running into a patrol.

This feels like a trap.

“Something’s not right.” Hunter scans the area and shakes his head, trying to dispel the nerves. “Where is everyone?”

“Protocol is to scuttle the base once it’s been discovered,” Crosshair mutters quietly. “There should only be a skeleton crew left.”

Now things are even more confusing. If this base is empty, where’s Omega? Where’s Hera or Jarrus? They should be here. 

Unless they got captured and transferred. 

The corridors are silent as they continue forward, finally reaching the command centre and finding it similarly empty. Hunter sighs as Crosshair takes off his helmet and moves to the security monitors. “Tech, see if you can get access to the system. Find out if they took Omega somewhere else.”

“Copy.”

Hunter removes his helmet as well and rests his head in his hands. “This doesn’t make sense. We should have found them by now.”

It’s been four months since Tantiss. According to Crosshair, the Empire would have cleared out as soon as that op happened. So if this base has been empty for four months, where are the kids? 

His comm beeps. “Hunter, we found the guards.” It’s Echo. “I count ten. All dead. They’ve been…ripped apart. Like they were attacked by an animal.”

Hunter frowns and looks over at Crosshair. “That explains the silence.” He turns back to the comm. “Echo, can you track whoever killed the guards?”

“Don’t bother.” Crosshair straightens from the security panel. “A V-Wing just launched out of the hangar. It’s our prisoner.”

Why was the Empire holding a prisoner at an abandoned base? Tantiss is already off Imperial records and the base being abandoned makes it even harder to find. Why was there a prisoner at a base that doesn’t exist?

“Hunter, I found something.”

Hunter nods. “Go ahead, Tech.”

“There was a single prisoner here. A Wookie. Additional information is encrypted, but it looks like he has been here for two months. The Empire wanted to bury him.”

“Why?” Hunter shakes his head. “What’s so special about his Wookie?”

“I do not know. But he is the only registered prisoner. There is an earlier data entry about a female prisoner that was kept here about four months ago.”

Hunter focuses on that. “Omega.” 

“Possibly. The databank only refers to this prisoner as Clone Unit 2.”

What? Hunter glares at his comm. “What does that mean?”

“It was what Rampart called Omega,” Crosshair answers darkly. “C-02. The kid’s Kaminoan designation.”

That raises far more questions than answers, but it doesn’t help them figure out where the kid is. “Tech, do you have anything on Omega’s location right now?”

“Negative.” Tech sounds frustrated. “However, there is a report filed two months ago that lists a transfer of weapons to Coruscant. Among them is a Zygerrian energy bow, and, interestingly, a lightsaber.”

Omega’s bow was taken to Coruscant. So that’s where she went.

This would all be so much easier if she had just taken her comlink with her. Then they could at least track her location. Jarrus and Hera also left their comlinks. The shuttle they took has a deactivated transponder. 

The only way he’s finding the kids is if they run into each other.

This situation is only getting worse.

“Tech, copy everything you can onto our system. We can go through it later and see if there are any other leads.” Hunter loops everyone else into the call. “Back to the Marauder. We have a lead.” 

Hunter and Crosshair leave the command centre and Hunter resists the urge to sigh. “We’re getting nowhere.”

“If the kid followed the trail, we should find her on Coruscant.” Crosshair at least sounds a little optimistic. “She knows enough to avoid capture.”

“It’s not that I’m worried about.” Now that sigh does escape him. “If Omega was here, then she’ll be reminded of what happened. It could undo all the progress we’ve made.”

“The kid’s tough. If she came for her bow, then she wants to recover.” He can see Crosshair nod. “You’re doing the best you can.”

Yeah, but he doubts his best is good enough. Not in the face of Tantiss and whatever horrors Omega went through here. What if she has a panic attack or a flashback? What if he’s not there to help her?

And that’s not even considering Coruscant. There are far too many things that can go wrong there.

They need to find her. Fast.

Chapter Text

Returning to Ryloth was, surprisingly, uneventful. Did little to calm Omega’s nerves, but it was nice to have a brief few minutes before she would be yelled at by Hunter.

Although the silence was very odd. Hunter took his role as her dad very seriously - so seriously Omega sometimes wonders if it’s because of those months he thought she was dead. Probably.

Point is, he should be here.

Something’s off.

Omega cautiously exits the stolen shuttle and grabs her comlink. It’s a spare one that Kanan gave them - something about not wanting the Batch to track them or something - so she doesn’t have Hunter’s frequency. But she can still contact her friends. “Something’s wrong.”

“Pretty sure that’s you being nervous.” Hera still sounds a little pissed at her. “Have you even gone home yet?”

Omega sighs. “Not yet.” She eyes her comm and tries to think. Kanan’s done a huge favour by not telling Hera what she told him. Omega’s not even sure if Hera’s aware that Kanan knows, but there have been too many slip-ups on her end for Hera not to suspect what her past is.

She just…she wants to be treated normal. If she tells Hera about her past; about Tantiss and everything she’s been going through since…she won’t be. Kanan doesn’t treat her different, but Kanan also knows what she’s going through. Hera doesn’t.

But that’s causing tension in her friend group and Omega doesn’t know what to do. And she can’t ask Hunter because this is just regular teen stuff, right? How would he be able to help?

How is being a soldier easier than being a teen?

She doesn’t see Hunter at all on her journey to their house and that worries her. He should be in her face yelling about vanishing like that by now. But there’s nothing.

He didn’t…he wouldn’t just take off, right?

No. No, and he’s proven he’s staying a thousand times by now. It’s her stupid paranoia that’s causing those fears to resurface; Hunter will never abandon her.

She knows that. And, it’s easier to believe now.

Gets a little harder to believe when she reaches their house and finds it empty.

“Hunter?” Omega’s a little more cautious now; drawing her knife and dropping into a crouch as she silently moves around the house. “You here?”

Silence.

Okay, now there’s definitely something wrong. Omega silently travels up the stairs and makes it into her room. Her actual comlink is on her bed and she snatches it and calls up Hunter’s channel. “Hunter, it’s me. Where are you?”

Silence.

That fear of being abandoned is hard to shake now, but she still tries to focus. Silence on the comm doesn’t necessarily mean anything; their comms don’t have the greatest range. He could be on an op with the squad on the other side of the planet, or…or maybe he had to go get supplies.

Something that isn’t abandoning her.

Omega sits down on her bed and calls Rex. “Captain, have you seen Hunter?”

Silence there too.

That…actually helps. If she can’t reach the other clones, that means it’s not just Hunter. So it’s not him abandoning her.

But there is the problem of the clones being gone.

Omega goes down her list. Echo, Tech, Wrecker, Crosshair, even Cody and Boil aren’t answering.

This doesn’t make any sense.

She stands and begins to pace. Where would they all go? Most of them are vital to Ryloth’s security - Boil especially. He wouldn’t just leave unless it was a real emerg-

This is about her.

Omega calls Hera. “Has your dad said anything about-“

“Omega.”

She drops her comm in shock and turns with wide eyes to see Hera standing in her doorway. Omega huffs and tries to calm down her heart, which is beating triple-time. “Don’t do that!”

Hera half-raises her hands in apology. “I know where the clones are.” She looks away and sighs. “Father says they went to Wayland.

Oh fuck.

Omega slowly sinks onto the bed and rests her head in her hands. Hunter went after her. And because she left her comm here, he couldn’t track her location. And since they didn’t bump into each other on Wayland, the logical assumption would be her capture.

Double fuck.

This is bad.

She squeezes her temples as she tries to think. The squad’s on Wayland. With how efficient Hunter is - not to mention the fear he must be feeling at her being gone -, she thinks they can take Tantiss easily. So if they go back to Tantiss, the squad would already be gone.

And she…doesn’t really want to go back there anyway. She can’t even remember what happened on the actual op; she just remembers the past.

But…how else are they going to find Hunter?

Fucking fuck.

Omega stands and resists the urge to slam the wall with her fist. “Contact Kanan. Tell him we’re going back.”

Chapter Text

“Stay sharp.” Hunter makes sure all his weapons are off stun. All the clones have been replaced by these new stormtroopers, so he doesn’t feel any guilt in killing them. Especially if they have Omega.

Coruscant is a very risky target. That’s why it’s only him and Boil going in. They have Wrecker for backup while Tech and Echo work to keep the assault under wraps for as long as possible. Rex and Cody are nearby ready to redirect any Imperial forces headed their way, and if things go really south, they can retreat outside so Crosshair can snipe them from a nearby building. 

It’s not a great plan, but they don’t need that long. 

Boil nods. The ARC has a DC-15A blaster at the ready, and Hunter’s seen firsthand his skill in head-shotting droids. He imagines stormtrooper helmets aren’t that different. 

“Opening the door in three…two…”

The door slides open and Hunter moves in first, throwing his knife at the first trooper he sees. It sinks into the unprotected neck and the trooper goes down. Their partner turns to him but Boil fires a single shot that downs them. 

Hunter nods and retrieves his knife, wiping the excess blood on the trooper’s armour before returning it to its sheath. “Echo?”

“All quiet.”

Boil takes point. “Let’s go.”

Hunter pulls out his pistol and tries to stay relaxed. Things aren’t like last time; they have the jump on the Imps. He has backup and a semi-solid plan. All he has to do is find the kids and get out.

“Tech, anything about Omega or the others?”

“Negative.” He sounds frustrated. “I cannot find a single trace of Omega or Hera Syndulla or Kanan Jarrus.” 

“Keep looking.” Hunter sighs. “Boil, we need to reach the command centre.”

“Great.” Boil fires two shots that take out two troopers. “That’ll be fun.”

Hunter chuckles darkly and peers down a hallway. “Tech, those cams offline?”

“Yes. They are all infected with a looping virus. You have twenty minutes before the system resets.”

Hopefully enough time. “Copy.” He takes point towards the command centre. “Let us know if there’s any incoming patrols.”

Something feels off. No trace of the kids in the system, despite both Echo and Tech searching. 

He needs to make this mission count. “Echo, how far from the command centre is the armoury?”

“Two levels down and one corridor from the lifts.”

Hunter turns to look at Boil. “We split up. You get the bow and I’ll take the command centre.”

“You sure?” He can almost see the ARC’s expression under his helmet. “Be smarter to stick together.”

Maybe, but if this is a trap, him going in alone means it’ll just be him caught. Omega’s his kid; he’ll take the risk. “Get the bow and get it to the Marauder. I’ll comm if I need backup.”

Boil hesitates before nodding and turning away. Hunter watches him go and refocuses. Command centre. “Tech?”

“Door at the far end of the corridor.”

“Copy.” Hunter stops at the right door and trades his knife for his second pistol. “How many inside?”

“Three TK troopers, one officer.”

He hopes it’s Rampart. “Open the door on three.”

“Copy.”

“One…” Hunter drops into a crouch and gets ready. “Two… Three!”

The door slides open and he rolls inside, firing three shots that kill the three stormtroopers. Then he drops one pistol, pulls out his knife, and throws it at the officer. It slams into their right shoulder and they stumble back with a cry.

Hunter picks up his pistol and stands. “Command centre secure.” He moves forward and looks at the officer. Some…captain, by the insignia. Not Rampart. 

He casually points his pistol at her head. “Where’s the kid?”

The officer glares at him, one hand creeping towards the knife in her shoulder. “What kid?”

Hunter scowls and tightens his grip on the pistol. “The two humans and the Twi’lek.” He doesn’t like the blank look he gets. “You in charge?”

She gives a small nod and Hunter surges forward, ripping the knife out of her shoulder and planting a boot on the wound. “Listen closely,” he grounds out. “That kid means everything in the galaxy to me, so you are either going to tell me where she is or I will make you talk.” He begins to put weight on her shoulder and ignores the cry she gives. “Where is the kid!”

“I don’t know anything!” The officer is banging her hand on his boot but he barely feels it. “There’s no kids here!”

He narrows his eyes. “I don’t believe you.”

“Hunter, she might be telling the truth.” Tech speaks quickly. “There is no trace of Omega anywhere in the system. Furthermore, I am unable to find any matches at the landing bays to the starship they took.”

Hunter doesn’t loosen his grip. “What does that mean, Tech?”

“It means the kid was never here.” Crosshair…sounds angry. “We got played.”

“Dammit.” Hunter shifts off the captain and sighs. “What’s our next move?”

The door suddenly closes and Hunter whirls around. “Tech?”

“That was not me.”

The captain gives a tired laugh. “Now you’re the one trapped.”

“Shut up.” Hunter scans the room. “Echo, is there another way out of here?”

“Negative. And you have five squads headed your way.”

Shit. Hunter tries to think of a plan. “If I get overwhelmed, you leave without me. Clear?” No one responds, so he presses a hand to his helmet comms, praying they aren’t jammed. “Clear?”

Finally, Tech responds. “...clear.”

“Hunter, there’s a shuttle landing. It’s…”

The comm breaks up into static and Hunter nearly swears. “Crosshair!”

The intercom inside the room beeps. “Sergeant Hunter.” This isn’t Rampart. He doesn’t know this voice. This voice sounds amused. “And here I thought your squad was gone.”

Hunter points his pistol at the captain still on the floor. “I have a hostage. Come in here and I’ll kill her.”

There’s a mocking chuckle over the intercom. “That’s not very strategic, Hunter. You don’t need to use your enhanced senses to know you’re outnumbered.”

Hunter glares at the ceiling. “What do you want?”

“Actually, you have something I want.” The tone is almost conversational. Hunter isn’t fooled. “A young clone that is Imperial property.”

Hunter narrows his eyes. “Omega’s not going anywhere with you.” 

Inwardly, he’s reeling. Whoever this voice is, the fact that he’s asking Hunter to surrender Omega means…what? That Omega was never here? Did she never go to Coruscant?

What was going on?”

“I am afraid you have little choice. If you hand the clone over, I will let you walk away unharmed.”

Hunter shakes his head. “Not. Happening.”

“Then what happens next is on you.”

A faint hissing sound has him turning to the vents and he backs away as pale green gas begins to flood the room. The captain on the floor quickly begins to cough, so that means it doesn’t penetrate helmet filters.

The door opens and Hunter begins firing through the gas cloud. He hears a few cries but stormtroopers quickly swarm him. Oddly, they aren’t firing. One tries to bat at him with their rifle, which Hunter ducks and fires a quick shot into their midsection. Someone grabs him from behind, hands reaching for his helmet, and Hunter drops a pistol and pulls out his knife, stabbing them under the armpit and throwing them off. 

He drops into a crouch and readies his knife. He counts…at least twenty. Not great odds, but he’s not going down without a fight. The troopers charge and he tries to keep them at bay, and he’s successful until one of them gets a lucky hit and knocks his helmet off.

Instantly, he can’t breathe. The gas is choking his lungs, but Hunter still tries to hold these troopers off. He kills maybe two before his vision darkens at the lack of oxygen, and the last thing he sees is some officer and two commandos coming towards him. 

Then everything goes black.

. . . . . . . . . . 

He groans and slowly opens his eyes, nearly vomiting at the way the floor dips and warps. Some kind of gas…

“Hello, CT-9936.” 

He can’t look up, but that voice sounds…familiar. His mind is swimming so he can’t quite place it, but boots fill his field of view. 

“Or… would you prefer Hunter?”

Hunter squeezes his eyes shut and presses his head into his hands. “Where…am I?”

“Try to relax.” A slight pinprick in his neck tells him he’s been stuck. “You’ll feel better in a moment.”

He can place the voice now. Hunter lifts his head to face the voice before opening his eyes and watching the world warp around some woman who looks like a grown-up Omega. “Who…are you?”

The woman busies herself with a scanner. “One of many failures.” She glances at him and there’s a bitter smile on her face. “Defective clones who weren’t as lucky as C-02.”

Hunter struggles to think beyond the drugs. “You’re…like Omega.”

“In a way.” The woman shrugs. “We share similar defects. Something the Kaminoans weren’t able to fix before creating Clone Unit 2. Omega ages normally; we do not.”

Hunter squeezes his eyes shut again. “We?”

“Yes. Defects like this were quite common. The Kaminoans buried every instance; shipping us off to research facilities such as Tantiss. Omega was the sole exception and was kept on Kamino.”

This is too much to take in all at once. Hunter can barely wrap his mind around being conscious, let alone all this new information. “Why…am I here?”

“As I understand it, you’re bait.”

The woman doesn’t elaborate, but Hunter knows where this is going. “Omega.”

“You have to decide whether to give her up.”

Hunter opens his eyes to glare at her. “I’ll die first.”

She hums and readies a needle. “You might.”

No, he will. He’ll die before ever betraying Omega. Because if he does…she’ll be back in her hell. He can handle this; he was created to handle this. Physical torture is easy compared to the agony that will be watching Omega go through this and being powerless to help. As long as she’s safe, he can handle this.

He just prays the kid doesn’t try and find him.

Chapter Text

“The base is empty. We’ll head to the command centre.”

She can’t help it; the sigh of relief escapes her and she slumps down in her chair. “Copy that.”

Omega’s able to relax slightly now, and she leans back in her chair to study the dark forests around this facility. All things considered, it’s peaceful. She can hear the slight sound of birds chirping from where she is.

She’s in the ship this time, mostly because Kanan didn’t want to subjugate her, again, to the horrors that is Tantiss. She’s grateful for that, because she can have a slightly-clearer head. 

Kanan and Hera haven’t encountered any hostiles, so that tells her the squad has come through. Probably looking for her. She’s giving her friends half a standard hour before she begins tracking Hunter’s comm. 

She’s worried. Before they left again, Omega instructed Cham Syndulla to contact them if the squad came back. Well…sorta. He expressly forbade them from going out, but Omega isn’t going to stand back and wait around to see if Hunter comes back. He wouldn’t- didn’t- so neither will she.

Her comm crackles to life. “Uh…Omega?”

She frowns at Kanan’s tone and hesitantly lifts the comm to her lips. “Yeah?”

“We…found your bow?”

He sounds surprised. Why does he sound surprised? “Okay?”

“It’s on Coruscant.”

That’s not good. “You sure?”

“Positive.”

Omega sighs and slumps down in her seat. So that’s where Hunter is. Because he thinks she’s gone to Coruscant to get her bow. He’s risking everything for her.

‘She’s with us. She’s not going anywhere.’

‘That’s unfortunate. For you.’

Fucking fuck.

She sighs again. “Back to the ship, I guess.”

. . . . . . . . . . 

“This is a bad idea.”

Omega nods and ignores Kanan. “Yep.” She begins flipping switches and plotting their course. 

“Omega.” Hera rests a hand on her arm. “You can’t help Hunter if you’re captured too.”

“Been captured before,” she responds dully, double-checking her information. 

“Do you want to be captured again?” Kanan forcefully turns her chair so she’s facing them. “Omega, stop and think!”

The anger she’s been feeling ever since this nightmare began on Serenno snaps for a moment and she looks up from her datapad to glare at Kanan. “No. Hunter is my family. When I was gone, he never stopped searching for me! How can I stop and just let him go?”

“That’s not what we’re saying!” Now Hera’s raising her voice. “But going into Coruscant without a plan isn’t going to get us anywhere! If you want to actually help Hunter, you need to slow down.”

Omega narrows her eyes. “Slow down? And just let the Imperials torture him?”

“You don’t even know if he’s captured.” Kanan throws his hands out to the side. “For all you know, they’re returning to Ryloth right now! And what are they going to think when we’re still not there? This is just an endless circle!”

Omega stubbornly shakes her head. “I don’t care. If Hunter is captured, then we’re wasting time we don’t have! And if they kill Hunter…” she can’t finish that sentence. 

Something in Kanan’s eyes softens. “I get this is hard. But we need a plan.” He sighs. “He’s your dad, so we’ll follow your lead. But we need something more than bust in and blast them. We need an actual plan.”

She remembers the IT-O droid. The way it just administered pain and agony without caring about her response. She screamed her answers to Rampart’s questions but the droid didn’t care. She wasn’t sure the admiral even cared. But her entire body was on fire, and not even breaking helped with the pain. She screamed for the droid to kill her but neither of them were listening…

Omega gasps and closes her eyes, resting her head against the cool metal of the ship. She…she can’t. She knows what torture feels like. She knows exactly what will happen if Hunter is actually captured and she…she can’t.

Omega shivers and wraps her arms around herself. If he dies…then she doesn’t know what she will do. Her mind conjures an image of Hunter lying on the ground, bleeding from a dozen cuts on his face. His arm is bent at an unnatural angle and he’s barely conscious. 

She…

Omega opens her eyes and turns back to the control console. “We’re going.”

“Omega-”

She doesn’t even glance at Kanan. “You can come with, or I’ll drop you at Ryloth. We can plan on the way, but I’m done waiting. If he’s captured, then we’re up against the clock and running out of time.” Unconsciously, she touches her right arm. “We have no time,” she whispers. 

“We’re with you.” Hera’s resolute voice gets her to smile as she finishes the calculations. “No matter what.”

Omega nods and gets out of the pilot’s chair so Hera can sit down. “Thanks.” She takes the copilot’s seat and leans forward. “Now let’s go.”

Chapter Text

They’ve mostly left him alone.

Hunter paces around the tiny cell and tries to think. As silent as Omega and Crosshair have been about her time in Tantiss, Hunter’s learned enough to have some idea of what to expect. Mainly regarding torture. All he knows was Omega had been tortured multiple times - he was expecting something similar. 

But it’s been a week - he thinks - and he’s not seen anyone. That clone who looks like an older Omega hasn’t shown back up and neither has that Imperial officer. Hunter has the vaguest recollection about that Imp he was talking to before being gassed. 

After witnessing the brutal after-effects of Omega’s time in Tantiss, that was all Hunter was thinking about. But it’s been a week - maybe - and nothing’s happened. 

He’s glad for that, but now he has no idea what to expect. 

The lift dings and, as if summoned, an officer gets out. At least, Hunter thinks he’s an officer. He’s wearing different clothes to the typical imperial uniform and he has a glove on his right hand. And also the vaguest of smiles that Hunter finds kinda creepy. “Sergeant Hunter.”

Same voice. This is the guy who captured him. Hunter moves to the laser gate serving as the door to his cell and glares at him. “What do you want?”

“Why would you assume I want something?" That smile ticks up around the corner of his mouth slightly. “Maybe I simply want to take the leader of Clone Force 99 off the board.”

Hunter folds his arms. “So why not just kill me?”

“That would make you a martyr.” The Imperial shakes his head. “Your death would spur your squad to get revenge."

Hunter smirks. “You afraid of my squad?”

“I’ve seen what they can do.” The officer smiles. “Omega especially.”

There’s dread pooling in Hunter’s stomach. This is about the kid. The officer wants Omega. “Yeah?”

To his shock, the laser gate goes down and the officer steps inside. “Before you try and kill me…” Hunter’s entire body suddenly spasms as electricity courses through. He falls to his hands and knees and gasps when the assault suddenly ends. Vision darkened, he blearily looks up to see the officer holding a remote. “I would like a civil talk. Making a move against me would be… unwise for you.”

Hunter glares and doesn’t bother getting up. He slowly shifts so his back is resting against the wall. “Why…am I here?”

The officer sits on the raised ledge that serves as Hunter’s bed. “I managed to piece together your rescue of Omega using helmet footage. I must say, it was impressive.” The officer leans forward and seems to study Hunter. “I also heard Omega call you ‘dad’.” He hums. “Who knew clones were so…paternal?”

Hunter doesn’t bother answering. This seems like the type of guy to get all the facts before doing something like going inside the prisoner’s cell. Best he can do is let him talk and hope to gain something.

“I am aware of your bond with Omega. Nala Se provided additional details regarding your background.” The officer leans back. “I wonder, is your bond with Omega so strong because she reminds you of those CT-99 failures? Those tiny clones you were unable to save?”

The other CT-99s?

Honestly, Hunter doesn’t know that much about Initiative 99. He and the boys were regarded as successes early on and sent to be with the regs. Hunter knows what happened to the other clones that were deemed successes only to die in training or because they couldn’t handle their mutations, but he doesn’t know what happened to the clones deemed failures. He can guess, but he doesn’t know. He doesn’t even know how many CT-99s there were. 

“Did you know Omega was there?”

Hunter scowls at the officer. She told them she was around for their creation, but he never linked her being there for the other 99s. Out of however many CT-99s there were, only the four of them survived to active combat. Exactly how much has Omega seen?

The officer must see the confusion on his face. “Nala Se says some of those failures died crying out for Omega to help them. She’s seen much you don’t know about, I’m sure.”

Hunter needs to get away from this topic. “Where is this going?”

“You have something I want.” The Imperial stands and moves back a step. “You may think you have some idea what it is you are in possession of, but you do not. The child you claim as your own has the potential to save the Kaminoans; save all your brothers, but you selfishly keep her away.” The officer eyes him. “If you were to put this choice in front of Omega, we both know what she would decide.”

Hunter slowly works his way to his feet. “Omega…isn’t going anywhere with you. I won’t…I won’t let you hurt her again.”

He scowls when the officer nods. “You may be surprised to learn that I agree with you. Hurting Omega was never something I wanted. Admiral Rampart took command of my facility and ordered her torture. Had I been able, I would have stopped him.”

Hunter’s scowl deepens. “Tantiss was your base?”

“It was.” The officer sits back on the bed. “Once I learned that you managed to rescue Omega, I ordered the facility to be sanitised and brought Omega’s bow here.”

It takes a second, but Hunter understands. “You laid a trap.”

He nods. “Unfortunately, you are not who I was hoping to catch. The trap was for Omega, and you being here has forced me to adjust my plans.” He leans forward again. “I am aware of your record, Sergeant. I know that physical torture isn't going to gain me anything, not when you have a child to protect. You would rather die than talk.” He hums and stands. “But there are…other methods at my disposal.”

Hunter takes a small step forward. “No matter what you do, I’m not telling you anything.”

“We’ll see.” The officer steps outside the laser gate and Hunter watches as it turns back on. Escape was never an option, but now it’s official. “You’ve met Emerie. She is…a defect of sorts. Similar to Omega, yet not as valuable. Not in the way we need.” He clasps his hands behind his back. “There are a large number of other clones marked as defective, some the same age as Omega. There are some who look exactly like her.”

Hunter doesn’t understand what this threat is, but a cold feeling of dread passes through his body. He doesn’t answer; he just sits on his bed. 

The officer takes his silence in stride. “You may think you can’t be broken, Hunter. But I am told there is no greater pain than a parent watching their child die.” That creepy smile is back. “You could watch a thousand clones who look like your child die in your arms. Then we’ll see how long it is before you break.”

Hunter draws back in horror. The kid’s death has been every nightmare he’s had since Tantiss. It’s something that followed him to Ryloth and there are some nights he wakes up convinced Omega is gone. His mind plays that out on a loop every time he can’t find her. 

If there are clones that look like Omega here…he doesn’t know how he would manage watching an exact copy of his daughter die. He doesn’t think he could manage that. 

The officer leaves and Hunter slumps down. He doesn’t…he would gladly take torture over this. He would rather be tortured for the remainder of his life than watch a kid die. He doesn’t doubt this is a real threat. And it could break him. It could. Easily. 

He doesn’t know what to do.

Chapter Text

‘You don’t have to get rid of me. I left Kamino with you. This is where I want to be.’

‘If this is where you want to be, then this is where you’ll stay.

“You okay?”

‘They can send everyone in the galaxy. You have us.’

Omega opens her eyes and turns to look at Hera. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Hera hesitates before sitting down next to her. “I get you don’t want to talk about whatever happened on Tantiss. I’m guessing it’s related to your capture, but I don’t want to pry.” Omega shifts uncomfortably and waits for Hera to continue. “But if we’re going to make this work, we need you.” 

Omega glances out the viewport at the whirling stars. “I can put everything on hold until we finish this.” She has to. Bad memories or not, this is important. She needs to get through this somehow. 

Hera gives her a small smile. "I get you're independent, but you don't have to carry this alone! I'm here; I can help you."

Hera's made this request a few times since leaving Wayland. Omega gets that she wants to help and that keeping her in dark is probably a mistake. She just...wants to be treated like normal. She hasn't felt normal since Serenno, and for all of Hunter's talk, Ryloth isn't a fresh slate. She's still haunted by the memories of Tantiss.

She knows Kanan feels something similar about Protocol 66. He still treats her like normal, but he also knows what she's going through. Hera doesn't, and Omega wants one friend that likes her for being her. Or something.

She's exhausted but she can't sleep. 

It’s been a week. Coruscant is in the Mid Rim and Wayland is almost beyond the Outer Rim. They’re almost there though. 

They’ve pushed their ship’s hyperdrive too far and damaged it. Instead of a maybe two day journey, it’s a week. One week of Omega trying not to panic over Hunter being captured. Kanan keeps reminding her that they don’t know that Hunter is captured, but she’s sure. 

“Dropping out of hyperspace.” 

As soon as they do, Omega’s comm beeps. She snatches it and almost calls out for Hunter when a voice sounds. “Kid?”

She slumps slightly. “Crosshair? Where’s Hunter?”

Kanan stiffens, but still turns the ship to descend into Coruscant’s atmosphere. “We’re at Loading Bay 14. Come aboard. We’ll talk.”

. . . . . . . . . . 

Omega sprints onto the ship and nearly runs into Wrecker. After a brief hug, she turns and glares at Crosshair. “Where’s Hunter?”

“We don’t know.” Echo speaks instead of Crosshair. “We were trying to find you when it went down.”

“Speaking of.” ARC Trooper Boil kneels down next to her and hands her…is that her bow? “This is yours.”

Omega gasps as she gently takes the bow out of his hands and inspects it. It’s fine. She never actually expected to get this back. She returns the bow to her back and instantly feels more relaxed. “Thank you.”

Boil nods as Tech turns his chair, holding a datapad. “I may have a location.” Omega rushes to him and peers at his datapad as he cycles through information. “Hunter’s comm is pinging from the Central Detention Facility.”

“Really?” Wrecker groans. “They doing this trick again?”

Crosshair shrugs. “Worked last time,” he drawls. He snatches the datapad from Tech and skims through the information. “You sure this is Hunter’s comlink?”

Tech nods. “Absolutely. I have checked numerous times. That is indeed Hunter’s comlink and it is actually pinging from the building. It is not being relayed or manipulated.”

Omega draws herself up and ignores her fears. “Then we go get him back.” She watches as Hera and Kanan finally join them. “We have a lead.”

Kanan eyes the clones uneasily and rests a hand on his lightsaber. Hera puts a hand on his shoulder and smiles at Omega. “That’s great.”

This all feels too similar. Them all prepping to rescue Hunter, that familiar feeling of dread and terror, even them tracking his comlink. 

This feels like a trap. 

Even so, Omega’s finding it hard to focus on beating the trap. All she can think about is the torture she went through on Tantiss, but it’s Hunter this time. And she broke because of the torture, what if he does? Then everything’s at risk. Them, Ryloth, everything. 

They have to get him back. No matter what. 

Even if this is a trap, she’s ready. She has her pistol and knife, but she also has her bow back. And she has her whole squad, plus the others. She’s sure Cody and Rex are here somewhere too. 

They can do this. They have to do this. 

Omega looks at everyone crowded on the Marauder. She’s not the leader; far from it. But doing this is her call. Everyone here has some idea of what she’s gone through and they won’t want this op to damage her. 

So this is her choice. Risk everything to save Hunter. 

There is no choice. He did the same for her.

Omega takes a deep breath. “Let’s go get Hunter.”

Chapter Text

“One.” Omega crouches next to the door and readies her bow. She hasn’t actually killed anyone before, but that doesn’t matter now. They have her dad and she’s going to do whatever it takes to get him back.

“Two.” She looks back at Hera and Kanan, her partners for this part. Wrecker and Boil have already drawn away a number of guards with a diversion, and it’s their job to clear a path so Tech and Echo can get to the command centre. Rex and Cody are at the Marauder, ready for a fast exit. Crosshair’s on overwatch on a building overlooking the facility.

“Three.” The door opens and Omega takes point, trying to stay stealthy for as long as possible. Tech’s already disabled the security cams for the facility and provided a semi-clear path to the command centre. They just have to get there. 

A stormtrooper appears and Omega reacts on instinct, firing a single shot from her bow that downs the trooper. She doesn’t have time to process killing them; she has to keep moving. 

She sneaks down the corridor and towards where Tech says the command centre is. Time is running out.

. . . . . . . . . . 

He hears her scream.

Hunter is woken up by the unforgettable sound of Omega screaming in pain. He thinks it’s just a dream until the screaming keeps coming. 

She’s here. And she’s in pain.

Hunter moves to the door and crouches next to it, waiting. He gets fed once a day right around now, so all he has to do is wait for that stormtrooper to come in, take their weapon, and get the kid. 

He’s not sure how long he’s been here. But this escape option has been available since his first day, but he never planned on taking it. No armour, no weapons, and far too many troopers for him to fight. He wouldn’t get out alive so what was the point in trying?

Now he has a purpose.

The door slides open and as soon as Hunter sees the white armour, he pounces, grabbing the trooper’s shoulders and throwing them against the wall. The motion causes their helmet to be ripped off.

The trooper - some guy who is not a reg - stands and levels his blaster. Hunter rolls out of the way of the shot and kicks the trooper’s feet out from under him. Then he puts the soldier in a chokehold. 

The trooper struggles and Hunter watches as the blaster inches closer to his face. With a quick jerk, he snaps the stormtrooper’s neck and sighs with relief as his arm goes limp.

Hunter throws the stormtrooper onto the ground and picks up the fallen blaster rifle. It’s not a DC-15, it’s some new kind of blaster. He can still use it. He also grabs the stormtrooper’s comlink.

Then he’s out of his cell.

As revolting as this is, the easiest way to find the interrogation room is to track Omega’s screams. 

As he moves through the base, he’s reminded of that officer’s threat; about how he could watch clones that look just like Omega die. This could be that threat. 

He doesn’t care. 

Hunter doesn’t bother setting the stolen blaster to stun. Doesn’t matter if this is actually Omega or not, these Imperials are torturing a kid. He can’t let that happen.

Another scream sounds and Hunter abandons all stealth, outright running towards the noise. He shoots four troopers on his way there and dodges several stun blasts. He doesn’t have time to wonder why they’re trying to stun him; he has to reach the kid.

He reaches the interrogation room and bursts inside, shooting the IT-O droid he finds hovering near the raised table. Then he turns and his heart stops. 

It’s not Omega. At least, he doesn’t think so. The clone looks exactly like her in everything but the hairstyle. This clone has the shorter hair Omega had around the Fall of Kamino. She might have cut it before returning to Wayland, but he doubts it. 

This isn’t her. It isn’t. It isn’t. 

He can’t convince himself of that as he shifts closer to her. Hunter reaches out and rests two fingers against the side of her neck, searching for a pulse. It’s there, but it’s weak. He has to get her out of here.

He manages to rip the binders off and gathers the kid into his arms. She’s breathing, barely. There’s no time to be stealthy; they have to go now!

Hunter rushes out of the interrogation room and sprints down the corridor as quickly as he can. He doesn’t know where the hangar is, but if it’s close, he can steal a V-Wing. Get them out of here.

The kid’s head suddenly lolls back and Hunter stops cold, kneeling on the ground and pressing his ear close to her face. 

No breath. 

“No, no, no, no, no,” Hunter rests the kid on the ground and tries to do chest compressions; tries to get her breathing. Dimly, he hears the clacking of armour that tells him he’s surrounded but he doesn’t care because he has to get her breathing again!

He’s still trying when the first stun blast knocks him to the ground, and he’s reaching for Omega when the second blast knocks him out. The last thing he sees before the darkness sets in is her still form.

. . . . . . . . . . 

Two shots down the TK troopers inside the command centre and Omega trains her bow on the lone officer in the room. They have a bandage over their right shoulder and they back up into the wall as she moves closer. 

Hera moves to the command console while Kanan guards the door. Omega draws her bow back even further and glares at the officer. “Where is my dad!”

"The clone?" There’s a hint of exasperation on the officer’s face that’s covered by fear. “Detention level.”

Omega shifts forward until the pink energy bolt is inches from their face. “Where.”

“Cell 1479!” Hera calls out before rushing to Omega. “C’mon, we have to go!”

“Omega!” Echo’s voice has her quickly glancing at him and relaxing when she sees his own pistol trained on the officer. “Me and Tech got this. You guys have to go!”

Omega nods and returns her bow to her back. “Copy that.”

She takes off sprinting for the lifts.

. . . . . . . . . . 

“Do you have any useful information to share, Hunter?”

Hunter raises his head and glares at the officer. “That wasn’t Omega, was it.”

“That is up to you.” That stupid smug look is on his face. “You’re her parent, Hunter. What did you feel?”

Hunter tries to keep a lid on his rage. It wasn’t Omega. It wasn’t. This Imperial wouldn’t kill her like that. They want her for something. This is just torture. 

He balls his hands into fists. “I’m going to feel good when I slit your throat.”

The officer smirks. “Good luck with that.” He turns to leave before glancing back. “You’ve watched your kid die today, Hunter. How many days of this can you go before cracking?”

Hunter storms to his feet. “These clones aren’t Omega!”

“That’s not how you felt in the moment, was it?” Now the officer’s back to facing him. “You could have escaped, but couldn’t let the child die without trying to save her.” He turns away again. “There is always going to be that part of you wondering if this is the one and you will never be able to let her go.”

Hunter slumps back down as the officer leaves. Doesn't matter if the clone was Omega or not; he's still going to be seeing their dead form in his nightmares. Because he can't convince himself that it wasn't Omega. It could be. He could have just watched his daughter die, and he'd never know it because there's clones that look like her. 

All he can do is try not to break.

. . . . . . . . . . 

Detention level. 

Omega drops into a crouch and pulls out her knife. Getting into a firefight or crossfire here will be bad. Best to try and be stealthy for a little bit. 

She creeps down the corridor and ducks into an empty cell when a patrol heads her way. She glances behind her and is honestly surprised to see Kanan and Hera hiding too. In her zeal to get Hunter, she almost forgot she has backup. 

The patrol passes and Omega nods at the others. They creep out of the cell and continue their way down the corridor. Cell 1479 is near the end; it’d be a horrible place to be trapped. They need to grab Hunter and get out.

They finally make it to the cell and Omega takes a breath before opening it, all of her elation at finding Hunter vanishing when she sees the empty cell. 

What the fuck?

Omega cautiously creeps inside the cell and peers around. This…no…this…Hunter has to be here, right? Tech traced his location and-

The lone object on the bed gets her attention and she just stares at it. It’s a comlink. A comlink that beeps every few seconds like it's transmitting.

They’ve been played.

Omega pulls out her own comm. “Tech! Echo, get out of there!”

Nothing but static.

On instinct, Omega rolls out of the cell seconds before the door closes on its own. She would have been sealed inside and trapped. 

This isn’t a rescue. This is a trap and she just sprung it. 

Kanan puts a hand on her shoulder and pulls her up. “We have to go!”

Omega turns around and sighs at the TK troopers in their path. “There’s too many for us to take alone!” She glances at Kanan. “You have to-”

“I know.” Kanan takes a step forward and unhooks his lightsaber from his belt. “Get ready.”

Omega pulls out her bow and draws it back. “Ready.”

She watches Kanan take a breath before activating his lightsaber. “Go!”

The TK troopers all draw back like they weren’t expecting to face off against a Jedi. Omega uses that confusion and begins firing at them. She downs a few and doesn’t think about the fact that she's now killing beings.

Instead, that anger she’s been holding back since Tantiss fills her. Hunter’s not here. She doesn’t know where he is. And right now, they’re all at risk. She put them at risk. 

They have to get out of this first, then she’ll process everything. 

They slowly work their way to the lift and, once inside, Omega tries her comm again. “Tech! Echo! Do you copy?”

The comm remains silent until midway through the lift ride when it suddenly breaks out into a bunch of voices. “Omega!”

She breathes a small sigh of relief. “I’m here, Wrecker!”

“Glad you’re okay, kid.”

“Omega, it is Tech. I have determined that-”

“-this is a trap,” she finishes for him. “We know. We’re headed back to the Marauder.” 

“The central database has been wiped.” Echo sounds as angry as she feels. “There’s no new information. I’m sorry, Omega.”

Omega sighs and forces everything she’s feeling back inside its box. “We’ll figure this out.” She closes her eyes for a second and lets out a slow breath. 

Hunter’s gone. If he was ever here. And they have no leads; no plans; nothing. He could be two buildings away or across the entire galaxy. He could be back at Tantiss and they'd never know it. He could be dead and she'd never know. 

And this is all her fault. She pushed for this mission. Everyone told her to take a step back and think but she couldn't. And now she's almost lost everything. 

She doesn’t know what to do.

Hera’s hand touches her shoulder. “We’ll figure it out,” she whispers softly. 

It’s her own words to Echo, but Hera sounds like she actually believes what she says. Omega opens her eyes and tries to smile at Hera. “Thanks.”

“I have a few contacts I can reach out to,” Kanan joins in the conversation. “They might know something.”

“What contacts do you have?”

Omega forces herself to pay attention to the conversation Hera and Kanan are having. “Padawans I grew up with. They were commanders in the army; they might have useful information.”

Omega purses her lips. “Let’s hope.” The lift dings and she readies her bow, feeling the heat of Kanan’s lightsaber as he raises it. “Here we go…”

The doors open and Omega retracts her bow when she sees Wrecker and Boil standing there among fallen TK troopers. “Hey, kid!” She doesn’t have to see Wrecker’s face to know the grin he’s wearing to mask his nervousness. “Tech and Echo are already back at the ship! Crosshair’s waiting for us to leave before joining us. We have to go now!”

Omega nods and just sorta zones out as they make their way out of the facility. Wrecker and Boil have already dealt with most of the TK troopers so it’s a clear shot to the Marauder. 

Which is good because she’s lost in thought. 

They need to get Hunter back. Quickly. A small, selfish part of her wants him back because she doesn’t know how to handle her nightmares or flashbacks or any of it if he’s not here. 

She was too focused on the mission to let the past get to her, but now that things are done and worse than ever…

She’s scared. And selfish.

But mostly scared.

. . . . . . . . . . 

“Hunter was never there.”

Omega sighs and turns to the viewport. The Empire played them and her family almost died today. Because she was desperate and didn’t listen to Kanan or Hera when they told her to stop and think. 

She pushed for this mission without thinking of the consequences. Her friends are right; she has to think this through and not react emotionally. 

If she’s going to get her dad back, she’s going to have to be better. 

Omega nods to herself and turns back to the group. They’re all watching her like they’re waiting for her to join the discussion. She feels that familiar anger and holds it back. Anger and rushing into things is how they got in the mess in the first place.

They do whatever it takes to get him back, but they also have to be smart. She has to be smart. 

She turns back to the viewport and looks at the stars. “Hunter’s gone and we’re going to find him.” She narrows her eyes at the distant planet of Coruscant. “And we don’t stop searching until we do.”

Chapter Text

“Good morning, Hunter.”

Hunter ignores the doctor and keeps his eyes trained on the wall next to the laser gate serving as this cell’s entry point. They’ve been moving him around the detention level…he’s thinking on a weekly basis. He has no real way to tell time in this place. 

The doctor - Hunter’s learned his name is Hemlock - visits him periodically. Usually…usually after Hunter watches another clone like Omega die. 

He’s gone through thirty-one different versions of watching a clone that looks like his daughter die. Sometimes it’s a copy of when he managed to free Omega from Tantiss, only for the clone to die from injuries sustained from the torture while he's trying to get her out. Sometimes he’s not fast enough and makes it to the interrogation cell in time to watch her die. 

Sometimes she’s shot in his arms and he holds her while she chokes for air. 

No matter how many different times he watches the kid die, it always tortures him in a way physical pain simply can’t match. Hunter would gladly strap himself to that table and personally let the IT-O droid in if it meant keeping those young clones safe. 

And things are getting worse. 

Hunter’s…he’s not sure how much longer he can hold out. Because Hemlock makes sure to tell him that all he needs to do is tell him about Clone Force 99. That’s it. They’d even let him go. 

That’s not what’s wearing him down; he’d spend the rest of his life in this prison if it meant keeping his Omega safe. The real problem is he’s no longer sure who the real Omega is. 

Hemlock’s gotten smarter with these ruses. The clones now have Omega’s exact hairstyle and clothes. Down to the bandana she has tied on her right wrist. 

They…some of the clones that he manages to keep alive long enough for them to talk…they even call him ‘dad’.

The only thing keeping Hunter from turning the blaster on himself is that little niggle that this clone might actually be his daughter. If there’s even a chance that this is actually Omega, then he can’t just check out without trying. 

He can’t abandon his kid. 

“Are you aware of what insanity means?”

Hunter’s anger boils over and he glares at Hemlock. “You’re the one doing things over again.”

“Yet I am getting different results.” The doctor sits on his ‘bed’. “I see a piece of you crack every time you fail to save your daughter’s life.”

Hunter tries to keep his rage in check. Last time it controlled him, he ended up being shocked for thirty seconds. “Those clones aren’t Omega.”

“You don’t believe that. You can’t believe that.” Hemlock gives a little shrug. “I see it. Every time you reach the young clone, you’ve convinced yourself that this time is different. You think you can save their life.” He stands. “All you are doing is getting them killed. If you would simply tell me what I need to know, you could spare hundreds of other clones.”

Hunter draws back in horror. “How many other clones are there?”

Hemlock smiles thinly. “More than you could imagine. Despite Clone Unit 2's original purpose to be a child for Jango Fett, the Kaminoans regarded her as a failure and continued trying to create a perfect copy." He stands. "As you can see, they failed. Yet, we have found uses for them."

Hemlock steps outside the cell and Hunter watches as the laser gate goes back up. The doctor moves a few steps away before looking back at him. “Your mind will break long before I run out of clones, Hunter.”

Then he’s gone.

In the silence that follows, Hunter collapses to his knees on the floor. Every time he closes his eyes, he sees another kid die. If he can’t protect these kids in here, how could he possibly hope to protect Omega out there?

Hunter closes his eyes and lets his chin fall to his chest. He has no doubt that his squad is out there looking for him and he’s confident they will one day find him, but…he doesn’t know if he can survive until then. 

. . . . . . . . . . 

“Grah!!” Omega hurls a knife into the wall and rips it out before throwing it again. She does that over and over again, trying to calm herself. 

Another failed mission. Bad intel, poor execution, she doesn’t fucking know. All she knows is it’s been three months and they have no fucking idea where Hunter is!

She yells again in fury and throws the knife as hard as she can. At this point, the walls of her room in this borrowed ship are covered in holes from her knife. It still doesn’t calm her. She has to find him. She has to find him! She has to-

“Can you stop destroying the wall for a second?” Kanan’s question has her turning to glare at him. The only fucking good thing to come from this whole fucking mess is Kanan trusts the clones now. Somewhere around the thousandth failed mission. “We kinda need that one.”

Omega abandons her knife and begins walking in circles, holding her hands to the sides of her head and squeezing hard. “Where is he?” Desperately, she looks back at Kanan. “If we go back to Tantiss-”

“-we’ll find it empty. Just like the other hundred times we’ve gone back there.” Kanan sighs and leans against one of the walls she hasn’t been using for target practise. “You just need-”

Omega stops moving. “If you tell me to be patient or that we’ll find him eventually, I’m going to fucking slit your throat.”

“-to calm down.” Kanan’s eyebrows are raised. Doesn’t help that this is the fifth time today she’s threatened him like that. “You’re not helping yourself.”

Omega glares at him for a second before reluctantly nodding. “I know,” she murmurs. As the anger fades away, despair and terror replace it. Slowly, she slides down the wall and wraps her arms around her legs, burying her face in the groove between her knees. “I can’t do this without him,” she whispers softly. 

Tears spring to her eyes, but Kanan’s seen her cry a hundred times in the past three months now; it’s no longer embarrassing. She feels his hand on her shoulder and looks up to see him kneeling next to her. He doesn’t say anything; there’s nothing he can say. Nothing she’ll listen to, anyway. 

He tried, in the beginning. Omega stopped believing his words of comfort after the second week. 

Eventually, he sighs and sits next to her. “You said we don’t stop searching until we find Hunter,” he finally whispers back to her. “Are we giving up?”

Omega looks down and shakes her head. “No,” she hisses, that anger briefly returning at the idea of abandoning Hunter. She’d rather die. 

“Good.” There’s a smile to Kanan’s voice. “Then we keep going.”

He’s all sorts of confident. Omega’s jealous. These missions are great for her experience and training, but she hasn’t had a single night of good sleep since finding that fucking abandoned comlink on Coruscant. 

Kanan’s right; she’s losing it. 

Omega raises her head and wipes her eyes. She can’t plan; all her plans have fallen apart. They’ve honestly been lucky none of the squad has died yet. There was a close call with Boil on Mygeeto, and then Omega removed herself from the planning aspect of all this. 

Doesn’t help that Echo’s basically ordered her to take it easy for now. 

Easy nowadays is her hurling her knife at walls or screaming her rage at them. 

They sit there for a few minutes before Kanan stands and holds out a hand to her. “C’mon. We’re nearly there.”

Omega accepts his hand and tries to hold back her disappointment. Back to Ryloth. Means another few days of doing nothing. 

Echo calls it resupplying; Omega calls it wasting time. Every second they spend on Ryloth is another second Hunter’s being fucking tortured. 

Her right arm twinges in pain as they walk down the hallway and Omega rubs it absently. Her once-broken shoulder hurts more now than it used to. Everything hurts more than it used to.

Her nightmares are always about Bracca now. About Bane shooting Hunter. About her being captured before escaping and contacting the squad. Except it’s never Hunter who answers. And when she’s finally reunited with her family, he’s always missing. 

She’s terrified that, when they finally find Hunter, it’ll be too late. She’ll finally find him in time to watch him die.

Hunter told her about those two months he thought she was dead in an attempt to get her to open up about her time in Tantiss. About the despair he felt. Omega understands how he felt now. His loss colours everything she does now. That terror hangs over everything she feels. 

She still hasn’t quite figured out how to function through the pain, but she’s finding her anger is getting harder to hold back. Anger at the Empire; at the entire galaxy.

At herself. 

Omega swallows and looks away. That’s what this all comes to. This whole nightmare is her fucking fault and she has no fucking clue how to fucking fix it! It feels like they’ve been everywhere in the galaxy and yet there’s always nothing! If anything, they’re further away from finding Hunter than they were when they started. 

That anger comes back and Omega abruptly whirls away from Kanan and stalks back to her room. “Let me know when we’re leaving again.”

“Omega-”

She shuts the door and ignores the rest of Kanan’s plea. Then she grabs her knife and hurls it at the wall again.

This is her fault. Everything is her fault. She was born female and subjugated to the Kaminoans trying to fix that mistake for fourteen years. She got captured and needed Clone Force 99 to rescue her, which resulted in them losing Crosshair. She almost got eaten by a Nexu and then Hunter shouted at her. 

‘Do you realise you could have been killed!’

That made Hunter want to leave her behind. Maybe he should have. Look at everything-look at all the damage she’s caused. She distracted Hunter on that moon and he nearly suffocated because he lost his mask. She wandered off and got captured by Fennec Shand. She trusted Fennec Shand and he nearly died for it. 

She got captured by Bane. She escaped and fucked that up so Bane captured her again. She couldn’t hold the ship steady so Hunter fell on Daro. She released the droids and nearly killed her whole family. She almost drowned twice. 

She fell on Serenno. 

She got captured; she got tortured. She was so weak, it took two months for the squad to find her, and she was unconscious for it. Then she couldn’t cope with the memories and fucked up their rescue mission on Desix. Nearly got Hunter and Crosshair killed. Almost stabbed Hunter after that mission. 

She screwed things up so bad, Hunter was forced to retire and live on Ryloth. And she still couldn’t fucking manage that. No, she had to stay as stupid as she’s ever been and snuck back into the place she was fucking tortured to try and get her bow. Then Hunter had to go save her, and then he got captured. 

Every- Everything she’s ever done has made their lives miserable. Or almost got them killed. Nala Se was right; she’s not a person. Crosshair’s right; being a clone doesn’t make her one of them. 

Omega yanks her knife out of the wall and just...stares at it for a second. Failed experiments on Kamino were decommissioned. She’s a failed experiment; what’s she still doing here?

She should be-

What the fuck is she thinking?

Eyes widening in horror, Omega forces that thought; all those thoughts out of her mind and hurls her knife as hard as she can. It bounces off the wall and clatters to the floor, but she just wants it as far away as possible. Wants those thoughts as far away as possible. 

Tears fill her eyes and Omega collapses onto her bunk, pulling the covers over her head. She didn’t think things would get this bad without Hunter, that she’d-

If he knew-

Omega sobs and grabs Lula, holding her to her chest as tight as she can. The Marauder is still getting patched up from a different failed mission; she’s not even sure which one that was. They all fail. 

But she misses her room. Misses how the walls and gunner’s nest crowd around her, making her feel safe. Making her feel home. This room…it’s big but it isn’t hers and she hates it. Hates this whole fucking borrowed ship. 

Cham probably isn’t gonna be happy with the knife marks in this room. 

Omega curls up in a ball and buries her face in Lula’s fur. She just…she just wants to sleep. She doesn’t even care that she’s in her day clothes or that they're hours away from the sleep cycle. She’s just exhausted. 

Just tired. Of everything. Tired of being Omega the screw-up. Tired of not being able to protect the one person she needs in her life. Tired of...just tired. 

So tired. 

She just wants her dad.