Work Text:
What Changed?
Lady JaRuc
“What changed?” came a question in a whispery curious voice.
Once upon a time, Hunter might have jumped, startled by the voice of a brother long gone. Once upon a time, he might have questioned his health or sanity. But his health was perfect, other than aging as fast as a rotting Meiloorun fruit, and his mind was as sound as ever though his emotions at the moment churned.
After a while, he grew accustomed to hearing Tech’s voice. Accustomed to almost catching a ghostly vision from the corner of his eye. Ghost, mental aberration, or simply the desire to speak with his brother, Hunter always spoke. This time, frustration and a bit of sadness colored his words.
“We enjoyed the meal as usual,” he said as he tossed out a hand for emphasis toward the long patio table. That arm rejoined his other, both crossed loosely over his chest. “Omega had stories to share about her friends at their new base. She skimmed over missions as expected. My hair would be grayer than it is now if I knew every details.” He sighed in resignation, aware more than ever that his little girl wasn’t so little anymore and that she was fighting for the right reasons just as he and his brothers had once upon a time.
Just to Hunter’s right shoulder, just out of deliberate sight, came a humming sound. One of agreement. The ghostly brother also encouraged the head of the Bad Batch family to continue. Tech would eventually hear what put the normally even-keeled former soldier in such a mood. Better to hear it from the man himself.
“Then Omega grew quiet, so suddenly that even Crosshair worried. You know how he gets. He can hold a sniper’s position for hours, but he can’t wait for someone to speak. So he comes right out and snaps at her. ‘Out with it’, he says.”
Hunter released a sigh that fluttered the leaves on the nearest flowerpot sitting on the rock wall. “She’d remembered the date. The date that everything changed. Her world and ours. One word. That’s all it took. Kaller.”
He ran a hand slowly over his face, an attempt perhaps to wipe away painful horrifying memories. “It was awful, Tech. Wrecker turned green like he was going to be sick. He pushed his chair back so fast it fell over. He ran out the gate like killer droids were after him. Crosshair went so pale I thought he’d fall out of his chair. He carefully pushed his chair back and managed to make his way out of the gate though he wobbled the entire way, holding on to the wall. Echo froze where he sat, as lost in memories as I was. Omega realized what that word did to us and quietly excused herself to go to the Archium. She…” He paused, trying to avoid explaining to the figure near him.
“I know, Hunter” Tech said gently. “She talks to me quite often when visiting the museum.”
“You talk to her?”
“I listen. That seems to be enough. You are, however, the only one who senses my presence,” the brother assured.
Hunter nodded, satisfied that Omega still remembered her lost brother though he realized that every time his little girl—not so little any more—climbed into her Star fighter she remembered who taught her how to fly.
“Wrecker’s probably at the dock. The water lapping there soothes him. I suspect Cross headed for the forest but probably wound up on the beach. The trees would remind him that he fired at the Jedi kid where he was hiding in the branches. Kaller—what a terrifying place.” Hunter stopped his reminiscence. “I may join him after a while.”
“Order 66. Execute Order 66. We were on Kaller, helping General Billaba and her commander, the kid, the padawan, Caleb Dune, when that order went out. We were all there, doing what we did best.” He snapped his fingers. “Just like that, our world changed. You remember. Crosshair obeyed the order. We didn’t. We flew back to Kamino without a clue as to what happened. One minute we were soldiers of the Republic. The next we weren’t. It came down to choices.”
“And Omega,” Tech added.
“Yeah. I’d seen her a few times before but never up close. That day…” Again, Hunter paused, his mind’s eye seeing a tiny child with a shock of golden hair. A slight smile lifted one corner of his mouth but immediately disappeared as frown lines pulled at his forehead as his shoulders sagged. “She was so little. So surprised to see us.” He flipped a hand at his brother again. “You know how it went down.”
“And?”
“We flew away and left Cross behind.” The tracker pounded one fist into the palm of his other hand. “Stupid! Stupid move. We should have grabbed him. Brought him with us.”
“Crosshair is severe…and hardheaded. He would have fought you.”
“Bad enough that he spent such a long time trying to kill us!” Hunter spit out.
“In the meantime, you showed Omega a world she’d never seen. Taught her values, created a family. Learned to love her and be loved in return.”
“Yeah, we all tried…you, me, Wrecker, Echo. But it wasn’t right. Life felt wrong. And then…” This time the man snapped his jaw shut so quickly the sound of his teeth meeting was audible.
“What changed, Hunter?”
The former sergeant shook his head, turned his face from his long-lost brother, not willing to say the words.
“Say it, brother. You cannot hurt me, but your heart, your mind, and your emotions blame yourself. I made that choice, Hunter. Recognize it. Honor it if you can for my decision to let my family live on. After all, it is not as if I am actually gone,” Tech said, his lack of social awareness not telling him that his words provided the older man with no comfort.
“You died,” Hunter said in a flat voice, taking time to bow his head in order to disguise a hand wiping his eyes.
“What changed then?” Tech persisted.
“Hemlock captured Omega. We learned later that he already had Cross.”
“Yes, it appeared that our recalcitrant brother finally learned how little the Empire valued him and his skills.”
“Exactly. Speak out. Shoot a man. Land yourself in the hands of a scientific maniac. He was alone, Tech. Alone for a long time. Thinking no one cared. Thinking no one was looking for him. Thanks to your persistence, I finally realized that wrong feeling I carried inside me was the absence of my baby brother. So yeah, we looked for Omega and him. But…” Here Hunter really did smile. “Echo was off gathering info, but Omega found us—me and Wrecker. She even managed to drag along one lost snarky brother and a scary looking Lurca hound. After a while, I realized Cross was way more scary than the hound she named Batcher.” He huffed a little chuckle. Turning, he rested his back against the rock wall, his elbows back, resting there as well.
“What changed then?”
“Well,” Hunter frowned as if sorting his thoughts, an expression not of anger but of shame. “We had to learn how to be a family again. How to trust each other.” He snorted and laid his head far enough back so he could see a clear Pabu sky dotted with a million stars. “And then it all went to hell again. Omega turned herself over to Hemlock in order to spare her brothers and the people of Pabu. She was so confident we’d track her. It didn’t work out that way.”
“You never blamed Crosshair for missing the shot that would have placed a tracker beacon on that ship.” A statement, not a question.
“What good would it have done if I had. The man clearly blamed himself. Blamed Hemlock for the torture he inflicted that left him with an unsteady hand.”
“And yet, that changed,” Tech once more reminded him.
“Tantiss. He wanted to follow your example. Possibly die trying to free Omega. We were going in to save her, sure, but Echo had a bigger plan in mind. Saving all the clones Hemlock held there. Cross was in that torture chamber same as me when Hemlock grabbed Omega, dragging her out of that lab. He told her he finally had her. Know what she told him?”
Though Tech knew—he’d been there though he could physically do nothing—he didn’t answer Hunter’s question. He wanted the man to say the words aloud because that’s what got the two brothers up and moving.
“She told Hemlock, ‘I have them.’ I’ve never been so proud of her. And despite his missing hand, Crosshair fired a shot that no one else in the galaxy could have made. I was as proud of him as I was Omega.”
“And so?”
“And so, we’ve grown stronger as a family. Echo and Omega put their lives on the line for this Rebellion. Frankly, I wake up every day asking the Maker to keep them safe and each night thanking the Maker at bedtime for granting that. We’re getting old while Omega is a fine young woman with years ahead of her.” Hunter dropped his head and straightened, though not without a few groans when stiff muscles protested. “In the years spent here, even with those two flying all over the galaxy, I don’t think things have changed. They’ve stayed the same through it all. Death. Loss. Bad choices. Good ones. Laughter and tears. We love each other, remember those who have gone ahead, and live each day as if it were our last. Change might come in little ways these day, and I’ll take it,” he said with a crisp nod of affirmation.
Through it all, dear brother, you have been the rock of this family as you were the leader of our squad. Crosshair had to fall as far down as it was possible before he allowed himself to rise. Wrecker has been the heart of this family from the day he was decanted. Echo is the minder of this family, making sure life is as good as possible. But our world always revolved around Miss Omega. She is the best of us all.
The island’s daytime noises had settled. A breeze ruffled tree leaves, while the faint sound of waves splashing against docks and rocks soothed. The moon had yet to rise to blot out the stars. The Mandalorian instructors taught the early clone brothers that the dead are not really gone, merely marching ahead, just far enough out of sight, ready to welcome each brother as he arrives.
“I think I’ll gather up the family, Tech. Talk again soon?” Hunter took a few steps toward the gate.
“Certainly, Hunter. Many things may change. But me talking to you, watching over our family…that will never change.”