Chapter Text
Cornered Animal
Prod. #: 104
Approximately 3 weeks after Order 66
“... How about your droid?”
Echo immediately snapped his head up. “Droid?”
Hunter turned to look as Echo started inspecting himself. He quickly said to the vendor, “Uh, he’s a, he’s a military prototype.”
He had hoped that that would be enough for the vendor to understand that Echo was not for sale. Instead the vendor sounded intrigued, “Military, eh?”
The vendor thought and finally said, “I’ll give you 2,000.”
Hunter glanced back at Echo with a very different expression. “Give me a minute.”
He walked back to Echo, who quickly said, “No, no, no. You can’t be serious.” He crossed his arms and turned his back to Hunter.
Hunter put his arm around Echo’s shoulder, leaned in and quietly explained, “We need the credits. Once we get the supplies, I’ll give you the signal and you can leave.”
Hunter could tell that Echo was grinding his teeth and after a very long moment he said, “Fine.” His tone clearly said it wasn’t fine, “But not at that price. I am worth more than 2,000.”
Hunter cringed a little remembering the price Echo was actually worth. “Right.”
Unfortunately that price was far too exuberant for any sane person to purchase, so when Hunter turned back to the vendor, he said, “Make it 4,000.”
The vendor thought and after a moment said, “Three.”
Hunter glanced at Echo and said, “Deal.”
Echo immediately snapped his head to Hunter before sighing and following the Sergeant to the counter. The vendor came around and started inspecting Echo, focusing especially on his port. “What model did you say it was?”
Hunter said, “Oh, um, he’s an EK-0. We call him Echo.” Echo once again sharply glanced at Hunter but didn’t say anything.
The vendor also inspected Echo’s mask, and didn’t seem to realize that he was looking at a person as a moment later he went back behind the counter and started counting out the Republic, or rather Imperial, credits. Hunter heard Echo quietly hiss, “Hunter, I will never forgive you for this bullshit.”
Hunter kept his face neutral and instead just grabbed the offered credits and counted them. Once he made sure all six chips were there, and correct, he looked up and said, “Echo, go to your new owner.”
Hunter was 100% sure that if this wasn’t actually necessary, the Echo would’ve exploded. But instead he gritted out in an angry, robotic sounding voice, “Yes, whatever you require,” and he let the vendor drag him into the back.
Now that Echo was gone, Hunter let out a smile. It wasn’t really that funny since it was Echo, but in a way it just made it even funnier. Hunter could vividly imagine Crosshair’s reaction and subsequent jokes if he found out about this and Hunter had to resist a chuckle.
However when he did look back, his grin immediately fell. Omega was gone. He cautiously said, “Omega?”
He ran out to the street and glanced around and more urgently called out, “Omega?”
He took a deep inhale through his nose and tried to concentrate. In a city like this, it was the sense he could rely on the best. He could faintly smell her, a mix of the clove-like scent all clones had mixed with the unique scent of their communal shampoo, and he began to follow the trail.
It led him to a small abandoned clone trooper doll laying in front of an alley. He knelt down and picked it up. He could tell it was the same one Omega had shown Echo in the pawn shop; he sniffed it and could smell Omega on it. He got up, with the stronger scent in his nose and began to follow the trail, every step making the scent stronger.
—
Omega gasped, “I know. If you’re alone, you should come with us.”
The woman leaned down a little and humorously said, “Now that’s the best offer I've had in a long time.”
Hmm. That felt a little condescending but Omega smiled anyways. The woman straightened and said, “Come on. This way.”
Omega started to follow her but stopped when a familiar voice called out, “Omega!”
Omega turned around and saw Hunter running towards her. She told the woman, “Oh, there’s one of my friends now,” and she waved at Hunter.
But weirdly he didn’t look happy, or even relieved. Instead he took a defensive posture and slowly said, “Omega, step away from her.”
“Why? She was helping me look for you.”
The woman spoke and her voice sounded dangerous as she said, “Yes, Omega and I were getting to know each other.” The woman put on her helmet and put her hand on Omega’s shoulder. But it didn’t feel protective, the hand felt possessive as Omega could feel the woman’s nails every so slightly dig into her skin.
Hunter also crouched a little and Omega saw him reach for the vibroblade on his belt. Omega dropped her half eaten fruit when she saw the woman reach for the pistol on her hip.
With lightning fast reflexes, the woman drew her blaster and began to fire at Hunter, who rolled behind a crate. Omega cried out, “Hunter!”
Omega didn’t really understand what was going on, but she wouldn’t let anyone hurt her brothers. She reached up and yanked the woman's arm down. That stopped her from attacking Hunter, but it also made the woman instead focus on Omega. She lifted the young girl off the ground and Omega shouted, “Let go!”
Omega managed to wiggle out of her grasp as Hunter threw his knife at the woman. She dodged and grabbed the knife and began to swing it at Hunter.
Omega could only watch as the woman trapped Hunter into a stalemate, with each of them trying to get control of the knife and the woman's blaster.
Hunter glanced at Omega and yelled, “Omega, run!”
Omega wanted to help, but she didn’t know how, so she turned and began sprinting as fast as she could.
She wasn’t even sure where she was going, as long as she didn’t stop. She started turning down random streets, doing everything she could to get as far away as possible from the woman who was clearly after her for some reason or another.
Omega glanced back to see if the woman was following.
Since she wasn’t looking forward, she didn’t see the kid run out from an alley running perpendicular to the street. But the other kid didn’t notice Omega either and the two ran into each other at full speed, knocking each other into the ground.
Omega hastily apologized, “Sorry, I’m sorry.” She got up, while glancing behind her again. Thankfully it seemed that in the couple seconds wasted, her assailant hadn’t caught up. But before Omega could keep running, something grabbed her wrist and began to pull her towards an alley.
It was the kid Omega had run into.
Omega tried to pull away, but even though the kid was only using one hand, their grip was just too strong. Omega couldn’t stop the kid from dragging her into the alley.
Omega said, “Hey, what are you-”
The kid pulled the two of them down behind a dump bin. They let go of Omega’s wrist and put their finger to their lips and then peeked around the corner.
Omega still wasn’t sure what was happening, but based on the kids urgent expression, Omega decided to trust them, and she looked as well.
There was a moment of silence as they knelt, both of them trying to keep their breathing quiet. Just as Omega was about to ask what they were waiting for, she saw someone sprint past the alley entrance.
It was the woman. She didn’t even stop to check the alley and ran right past her target.
Omega let out a sigh of relief and looked at the kid and said, “Thank you.”
The kid, a girl, although Omega wasn’t quite sure, offered a small smile. She then held out her hand, palm side up.
Omega awkwardly said, “I’m sorry, I don’t have any credits.”
The girl was wearing a patch over her right eye, but her other eye, which was light blue, rolled a bit. She slowly and gently grabbed Omega’s hand and held it so it mirrored what she had just done, with her palm up. Omega watched curiously as the girl then traced letters in Omega’s palm spelling out YOUOKAY.
Omega looked up from her hand and at the girl and said, “I'm fine but I'm just lost. I, I don’t know where my friends are.”
The girl traces in Omega’s palm, HELPYOU.
Omega looked at her, and narrowed her eyes and cautiously said, “How do I know this isn't a trick and you're after me too.”
The girl looked a bit annoyed at that. She stood up and gestured to herself as if to say Do I really look like I'm after you.
Omega finally got a good look at the girl. The most noticeable thing was the enormous light brown jacket that went all the way from her jaw to her knees. It was probably made for a man who was Wrecker’s size; it was big enough that she had to push up the sleeve quite a bit to use her hand and the other arm was completely lost in the sleeves. She seemed to be wearing brown clothes underneath, although it was hard to tell if they were supposed to be brown, or if they were just extremely dirty.
She had an eye patch over her right eye and Omega could see that it too was dirty and there seemed to be a rash around the edge. Her hair was probably long but it looked shorter since it was really matted. Omega figured that she probably had blonde hair, but most of it was brown and oily as she probably hadn’t washed it in some time.
She was also smaller than Omega, probably younger as well and while the bulky, ill fitting clothes covered her well, she looked rather skinny, and her cheeks were quite hollow.
Overall, she looked quite homeless. Omega had little doubt that the satchel running across her body, which didn’t seem to be very full, held all of the girl's possessions.
The girl started walking further into the alley and Omega followed. The kid knelt down and Omega watched her open a cover that either went into the sewer system, or the maintenance tunnels, but based on the pungent, acrid smell, it was probably the former. The kid looked back at Omega and waved for her to follow before she started down the ladder.
Omega hesitated and glanced back at the street. But since she had no idea where she was, and this kid probably knew the area, she was probably the best chance Omega had of getting back to her brothers, so she followed the girl down the ladder.
Omega got to the bottom. It did smell pretty foul, but it was cleaner than she thought it would be. There were some rats and roaches on the floor, but the walkway was well maintained and there was no spillover from the river of sewage running by them. Ladders periodically lined the walls, and it was fairly dark. There was a little bit of daylight coming through the storm drains on the street, but it wasn’t enough to see with and Omega watched the girl turn on a flashlight she had dug out of her satchel.
She passed the light to Omega and then held out her hand. Omega copied the hand position and watched her write WHERE.
Omega said, “Um I need to get to the space port. Docking Bay um, 6, maybe? I don't remember exactly.”
The girl nodded and motioned and began walking. They made a left, going across a magnetic bridge over the sewage and went down another pipe. Omega cautiously said, “Do you know where you’re going?”
The girl nodded and pointed ahead. Omega followed in silence as the girl navigated the pipes. Omega finally broke the silence, “Do you know these tunnels well?”
She nodded and traced in Omega’s free hand HEREAWHILE.
Omega said, “Do you live down here?”
The girl looked contemplative for a few moments and traced IDONOW.
“Alone?”
She nodded and Omega saw her expression fall a bit.
“Don't you have anyone? Like a family or friends.”
At that the girl shook her head and traced ALLGONE. Omega watched her try to rub the eye under the patch. She lifted the patch up and after rubbing her eye, she began to itch at the red ring where the patch had rested.
Omega said, “You know, I have some medical training. I don’t have many supplies on me, but I could still look at it.”
The girl looked up a bit surprised and she nodded. Omega stepped closer and dimmed the light a bit, not wanting to blind the girl that’s helping her. The girl sat down on a ladder rung, removed the eyepatch from her head, and opened her eye.
Her eyes were different colors.
Her uncovered left eye was a light blue, but her right was a rich brown.
Omega just stared at them for a moment, having never seen someone with two naturally different colored eyes before. It was rather pretty and mesmerizing.
Omega blinked and then looked at the brown eye. The skin around the eye was red but the eye itself looked alright. The pupil still reacted to light and it didn’t seem like the eye was drifting or the pupil was clouded.
It was kinda funny though, now that Omega was closer, the kid’s iris color looked almost exactly like the clone standard that nearly every clone, herself included, had. She even had that one fleck of gold in the lower left. It was a little eerie, but sometimes genetics just worked out like that.
Omega said, “Can you see anything with your right eye?”
The girl nodded and then scratched at the skin around it.
“Oh, is it just the skin?”
The girl nodded and Omega said, “Well, that's easy. Here.” She dug out the tube of bacta salve she kept on her. “A little bacta should clear it up.” Omega put a little on her finger and gently rubbed it in around the girl's eye.
Omega glanced at the eyepatch in the girl’s hand and said, “Do you wear the patch all the time.”
The girl nodded and Omega finished. “You really shouldn’t. It's irritating the skin.” Omega held out the tube and said, “Here. You can have the rest of this. Reapply every couple hours until it’s gone and don’t wear the patch until then, okay.”
The girl nodded and Omega watched tears begin to pool in her eyes and she did a motion where she tapped her chin and pulled her hand away. She put the patch into one of her coat pockets and they started walking again.
Omega had the distinct feeling that she was the first person to have ever done something to help this girl. It wasn’t fair. This kid had absolutely nothing and no one and she was nice enough to help Omega, who was a perfect stranger. Plus she seemed to be rather handy and sneaky. She could make a great addition to the team.
Omega said, “You know, if you don't have anyone you could come with me and my brothers. We don’t have a lot of room and we are kind of on the run but we could take you.”
She knew she had made a mistake offering it to that woman, but this kid was the antithesis of her. The woman had stolen that fruit and really just led Omega further away from her brothers. While Omega couldn’t actually confirm if she was being led in the right direction, this kid had saved her from the woman and she seemed genuinely nice, albeit it a little odd since she still hadn’t actually spoken yet.
The girl looked back and offered a small, but sad smile.
She stopped at the next ladder and tapped it. Omega said, “This one?”
The kid nodded and took the light from Omega’s hand and shined it up the shaft as Omega began to climb. The kid then put the light between their teeth and began to slowly follow Omega.
—
Hunter got up, but the woman was already gone. He needed some help. He opened his comm, “Wrecker, Tech, Echo. I lost Omega. Somebody attacked us.”
Wrecker said, “Somebody who?”
Hunter rubbed the back of his head, “A woman. Highly trained. She’s after the kid.”
Wrecker said, “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”
Tech said, “I’ll tap into the central security network. There should be enough cameras in this city to find her.”
Hunter said, “Listen, I made a bit of noise out here. Get the ship ready to go.”
Tech replied, “Well, it’s not technically a ship at the moment.”
Echo responded and told them he would be there shortly with some help.
Hunter evaded the security that was after him and finally got a call from Tech and he ducked down into an alley to answer.
Tech said, “Hunter, it appears your pursuer has lost Omega.”
Hunter said, “Well where is she?”
Tech replied, “Unfortunately, I do not know. Omega isn’t currently on any camera.”
Wrecker replied, “Well where’d she go.”
Tech said, “Upon reviewing old footage, she disappeared between two blind spots. I can not be certain where she is.”
Hunter muttered, “Shit.” Louder he said into the comm, “Tech, I want you to keep looking and keep watching the bounty hunter. Immediately let me know if she finds Omega. Wrecker, I want you to head back to the ship. We’ll keep looking from the sky.”
Hunter made it back to the docking bay in record time, mostly because he stole a speeder and arrived just in time to see a number of droids leaving the bay. Wrecker and Echo were waiting outside the ship, both tense and ready to move at Hunter’s word.
Hunter didn’t properly stop the speeder before jumping off and calling into the ship, “Tech, where is she?”
Tech replied, “There is no sign of Omega anywhere on the security scanner. But the bounty hunter just got into her ship and I can confirm that Omega is not on board.”
Hunter pushed back his hair and said, “What do we do? How do we find her? She could be anywhere by now.”
At that moment, Hunter heard an odd noise, followed by a gasp and Omega’s voice saying, “You were right. They're here. How did you know?”
They all glanced over and saw Omega climb out of a sewer entrance at the edge of the docking bay. Hunter ran over and said, “Omega, where have you been? How did you find us?”
Omega grinned and said, “I had some help.” Omega turned back and knelt by the entrance and said down into it, “Did you need some help? Here, take my hand.”
Omega reached down and they tensed, expecting to see someone as dangerous as the bounty hunter. But instead they saw her pull up a kid who was holding a light between their teeth. It looked like this kid was the definition and standard for the term ‘street rat.’
They were absolutely filthy with mismatched clothes, unwashed hair, a gaunt, starved face, and a strange feral quality to them. It was hard to even tell what gender they were, although since they were next to Omega, it was easier to tell that they were a girl.
She squinted in the bright light of the bay and then brushed herself off, not really getting rid of any dirt, and she removed the flashlight she was holding between her teeth. She turned it off and put it back into her satchel.
Omega stood next to the, probably younger, girl and beamed before gesturing to the men and proudly saying, “And these are my brothers, the ones I told you about.”
However none of them saw the girl's eyes widen when she looked at them. They didn’t notice her pale skin turn even paler, and they didn’t notice her immediately cover up one of her eyes with her hand. Instead all the clones were focused on Tech as he said, “We need to leave now. Our pursuer has taken off and is heading right for us.”
The clones wasted no time and ran onto the ship. But Omega stopped, noticing that the girl who had just saved her didn’t follow. She seemed to be frozen and she was covering up her eye for some reason.
Omega called, “Come on.” But the girl didn’t react. She didn’t even react when a ship sped by overhead shooting down blasters.
Omega quickly ran back and grabbed the girl's arm and dragged her onto the ship where she would be safe. As soon as Omega dragged her on, the girl flinched when she got into the cockpit, unfreezing herself and she tried to run back outside. But Omega had already sealed the hatch and the ship had taken off.
Omega didn’t understand why the girl was trying to leave and why she was acting so odd. The only logical conclusion was that she was afraid of flying. Omega pulled her and said, “Come on, there’s some seats in the back.”
The girl followed but she still seemed scared. She relaxed just a hair when she sat down, however she didn’t sit down in a chair, but she sat on the floor, right up against the ladder to the gun well. She still kept one of her hands over her brown eye and her blue eye was keenly focused on the front of the ship.
The men hadn’t noticed any of this exchange, or their extra passenger, as they were a little more focused on not getting shot down. They diverted all power to the engines and Tech was able to fly out of range, and shortly after, they made the jump to hyperspace.
The men finally relaxed. Hunter sighed and said, “That must have been a bounty hunter.”
After making the jump Omega had heard the girl's stomach growl and noticed how chapped her lips were, so she went up to the front promising to get some water and to see if they had gotten any food. But upon hearing that, Omega said, “A what?”
Echo said, “Someone hired to retrieve targets.”
Tech said, “And you appear to be the target.”
Omega worriedly said, “Me?”
Wrecker said, “Hey, don’t scare the kid.”
Hunter said, “We have to find out who she is, and who hired her.”
Omega looked concerned and nodded. But she relaxed and said, “Did we get any food rations?”
Hunter shook his head and said, “Sorry, Omega.”
Omega looked hopeful and said, “We still have water, right?”
Tech said, “Yes. Why?”
Omega nonchalantly said, “I thought I'd give her some.”
The men looked at each other confused and Echo said, “Uh, who?”
Omega looked to the back of the ship and said, “Her.”
They followed the young clone’s gaze and for the first time noticed that there was another child on their ship, the street kid who had apparently led Omega back to the Marauder through the sewer.
None of them could speak for a moment. Wrecker broke the silence and said, “Uh, did we just kidnap a kid?”
Omega went and grabbed some water pouches and said, “No, of course not. She doesn't have anyone, anymore. She told me. I don’t think that means it’s kidnapping.”
Echo put his hand over his eyes and said well, “It’s not, not kidnapping either. She’s not one of us. She’s not with us.”
Omega looked at him and innocently said, “Well, why not?”
Hunter said slightly hysterically, “Because she's a stranger.”
Omega said, “Well that’s just because we don't know her yet,” and she went back.
They saw Omega sit down next to the girl. Their stowaway was sitting in the corner against the ladder to the gunwell, staring in their direction and it was clear she was afraid and wary of them. The men stared at the pair a moment, noticing Omega was rather excited as she held a one sided conversation and the new kid wouldn't stop staring at them mistrustfully.
Wrecker looked at Hunter and said, “Uh, so what are we going to do exactly?”
Echo turned back to the controls and said, “She’s not our problem.”
Tech said, “It seems she's homeless. We can just drop her off at a shelter on the next planet we go to. I'm sure she'll be fine.”
Hunter and the child were in the middle of a staring contest. There was something really weird about this kid, and Hunter had no idea how he knew this. He blamed it on her strange assortment of clothing and the fact that she was only staring at him with one eye, the other which she covered with one of her hands, but there was just something inexplicably off about her.
He finally broke eye contact and turned back to the front, “Where are we going?”
Echo said “I actually had an idea.” Echo began telling them about someone named Cid, an informant on Ord Mantell that the Jedi used. They could find Cid and they could help them find out more about the bounty hunter. They agree and Hunter stood up to retrieve Omega and bring her to the front.
Hunter could see Omega was still talking with the kid, who was still staring at the four clones with suspicion. However as soon as Hunter stood up, the girl stood up as well.
All of the men could see she was deeply afraid that one of them was approaching her. Hunter said, “Omega, come on, squad meeting.”
Omega stood up and the kid immediately moved, stepping in front of the young clone, still covering her eye.
They all looked at the kid in confusion. That was just about the last action, any of them expected the skittish kid to take. Omega quietly said, “Um, what are you doing?”
Hunter got closer and said, “I don’t have time for this.”
She closed the eye she was covering and took her hand off it, revealing a rash around the skin and she quickly dug into her pockets and pulled out a knife that she trained on Hunter.
Omega tried to get past the girl and said, “No, he’s my brother. He’s not going to hurt you.” The girl didn’t listen and instead stepped back, squishing Omega against the wall and Hunter could see the tip of the knife in her hand was starting to move in a circle as her hand began to shake.
Hunter’s eyes narrowed at the small, absolutely terrified child. She wasn't trying to protect herself. She was trying to protect Omega from Hunter. But this was far different then what happened with the bounty hunter; it was clear that the kid had no desire to capture Omega.
Hunter calmly stepped into the knife's range and the girl struck. However it was clear she had no idea how to use a knife. Her motion was too large and Hunter quickly disarmed her. He held up the knife and said, “What do you think you're doing?”
The child tried to back up and ended up just pressing Omega even more into the corner she had backed herself into, holding out her arm in a clear message to stay away from Omega. But now the girl was making a soft wheezing noise as she stared at him. She looked like she was seconds away from passing out.
Hunter said, “Here let me help you Om-,” but as he went to put his hand on Omega’s shoulder, to help her out, the kid bit his hand.
Hunter gave a small yelp and looked down at his hand. At least she hadn't bitten through him and he wasn't bleeding. Hunter was already feeling annoyed before but this was a lot even for him. First there was a stowaway, and then she blocked him from Omega, then she tried to stick him, and now she bit him.
The kid was still keeping Omega behind her and she looked like she was going to make herself sick from how hard she was panting. She was shaking so hard it looked like she was vibrating.
But Hunter didn't care. Hunter said, “You know what that’s it. If you're going to bite us then you're getting cuffed to a chair.”
Omega tried to protest as Hunter grabbed the kid’s rather narrow wrist.
The second he grabbed her, he knew he made the wrong move.
A few things happened simultaneously. The kid's closed eye flew open revealing a brown eye that she was concealing underneath. There seemed to be this weird shutter that went through the ship. And all the lights all flickered a moment.
There was a brief moment where everything was still before Hunter felt a massive shove that sent him flying back through the ship, sending him clean to the cockpit, knocking his head into the center console.
The rest of the men who had been watching tensely, immediately stood up. Hunter raised his head. They all saw her hand extended out. They all knew that move. The girl had just pushed Hunter away, but she hadn’t used brute strength.
She had used the Force.
The girl lowered her hand and began looking around, clearly panicking. She ran toward the front and the men quickly reached for their blasters. However there was no need. In the hall, she stopped and then jumped up. They hadn’t put the maintenance tunnel cover on properly and the kid wriggled through the gap, disappearing into the ship, before anyone could stop her.
Now that Omega was free from the kid's smothering protection, she ran to the front and said, “Hunter, are you okay?”
Hunter sat up and rubbed the back of his head where it hit the console and said, “Yeah I'm fine.”
Omega said, “What just happened.”
The men all looked at each other with varying emotions on their face ranging from guilt to understanding to concern. It was Hunter who quietly said, “She's a Jedi.”
Omega said, “But why did she attack you?”
Echo said, “Because she's scared. She’s probably been through a lot.”
Omega’s brow furled and said, “Scared of what?”
Tech said, “Of us. She is afraid of clones.”
Omega desperately said, “But why? We aren’t going to hurt her.”
Hunter stood up and said, “Well she doesn't know that. And she doesn't trust us. That's why she was protecting you.”
Omega said, “She was protecting me?”
Wrecker didn’t grin for once as he spoke, “Yeah, she was. That’s why she stayed in front of you.”
Omega floundered, looking between all four of them and said, “But. But I don’t understand. Why is she scared of us?”
Tech said, “All clones were given an order to execute the Jedi. She is unaware we didn’t follow the order and that we don’t work for the Empire. She most likely believes we are going to kill her or turn her over to the Empire.”
Omega gasped and said, “Execute the Jedi? Why would you do that?”
Hunter looked up at the crawl space entrance and said, “We aren’t sure. But that was the order.”
Tech followed Hunter’s gaze and said, “Regardless of the past, I don’t want a scared Jedi child in my maintenance crawlways. She could cause irreparable damage if she decides to disable the ship in an attempt to leave.”
Hunter stepped toward the back and said, “I’ll go fish her out.”
Omega stepped in front of him and said, “No, I’ll go.”
Hunter said, “No, Omega it’s too dangerous. I don’t want her lashing out and hurting you.”
Omega said, “But she wasn't scared of me. I don’t think she'll attack me.”
Wrecker said, “It does make the most sense.”
Tech said. “Regardless, we need to move quickly. The longer she's up there, the more likely she'll break something and potentially kill us all.”
Wrecker lifted Omega up into the opening, and Hunter looked up and said. “Be careful.”
Omega nodded and said, “Don't worry. I'll be fine.”
Before she left Hunter took his vibroblade off his vambrace and held it up, “Here. Take this. Just in case.”
Omega hesitated but Hunter said. “Take it.” Omega did.
The main area was big enough that Omega could stand, and acted as extra storage space. But further back the ceiling dropped and there was an opening so one could fix the systems when they broke. The only person who couldn't get inside was Wrecker as his shoulders were too broad, but Omega had plenty of room. She could even sit down and her head would just skim the top of the crawlway.
Omega made it to the wall and saw the cover was removed. She knelt down and crawled in.
The inside structure wasn't too complex; there was one main line and every intersection came off of this main one. Omega started moving and looked down each branch before moving to the next. Omega almost went right by her. If she didn’t look carefully, then she probably would have missed her.
Omega only spotted her because she thought she saw a part of the wall shaking. Her huge jacket covered her up and its brown color blended in with the yellow lights against the grey metal. She was curled in on the far corner of one of the smallest branches. Even Hunter, who was the smallest of the adults, wouldn’t have been able to get to her, since there was a part that got too tight for him to fit though. But Omega was small enough to slip through the section with ease.
Omega got closer and she could now see the Jedi was honestly sobbing. She had her knees drawn up and was holding her legs tightly. Her body was shaking and Omega could see her eyes were tightly closed but there were tears streaming down her thin cheeks and snot running down her nose.
But the Jedi was crying completely silently. Omega watched her chest rise as it took a shuttering inhale, but Omega didn’t hear a single sound. The girl put her chin on her knees and her body shook rhythmically as she let out a completely silent sob.
It might have been one of the most tragic sights Omega had ever seen.
Omega slowly got closer. The Jedi looked at Omega with her puffy and red eyes and then looked away and began to try and wipe off her face with her hand and sleeves. However, due to her dirty state, she ended up mixing her tears with the dirt on her clothes, creating muddy streaks on her face.
Omega sat down close to her and she made no attempt to attack Omega; she barely reacted besides glancing at Omega with her brown eye once the young clone stopped moving. There also didn’t seem to be any damage in the mechanism around her.
Omega reached into her pocket and pulled out her water pouch and softly said, “Here.”
The girl, the Jedi, wiped her eyes and glanced at the extended pouch and to the vibroblade in Omega’s other hand cautiously and made no motion to take it. Omega saw and slid the knife back behind her and said, “Sorry about that. Hunter’s just kinda paranoid. I’m not going to hurt you.”
The girl wetly sniffed, finally making a noise, and took the pouch. Omega watched her open the cap and take a small sip. Omega said, “We aren’t going to hurt you. My brothers won't hurt you.”
The Jedi looked at Omega and it was clear from her narrowed eyes that she didn't believe her. Omega said, “No, really. I know they were ordered to, but my brothers didn't follow it. We don't work for the Empire. We aren't going to turn you in.”
The Jedi girl somehow became even smaller and she rubbed her eyes as tears started to pool in them again. Omega said, “No really, we won't. Can you come down?”
The girl shook her head and Omega watched her trace the word DANGER on the floor.
Omega said, “They aren't dangerous.”
The Jedi tucked herself into the corner a little more indicating that she wasn’t planning to leave anytime soon.
Omega kindly said, “We won't hurt you.”
The girl shook her head.
Omega sighed sadly and just stared at her. Omega finally said, “Are you going to destroy the ship?”
The kid narrowed her eyes at Omega almost as if to say Do I really look that stupid and shook her head.
Omega said, “Well… I guess you can stay up here then. Do you need anything? We don't have any food, but I could get you some more water or a blanket or something for the rest of the trip.”
The girl looked at Omega and hesitated before finally making a shot motion into her neck.
“A bacta pen?”
The Jedi nodded and Omega looked at her carefully. She had looked at the girl’s eye earlier, but she hadn’t noticed any other injuries. But even as Omega scanned the Jedi, it was impossible to tell since her jacket covered her completely. Omega slowly said, “Did you need any other medical supplies? Or maybe a scan?”
The girl shook her head and just made the shot motion by her neck.
Omega would rather make sure she was actually okay, but she figured that right now, it would be impossible to convince the Jedi to go back down. Omega nodded and gave the girl a smile, “On it. Wait here, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
—
None of the men said anything after Omega disappeared.
Wrecker broke the silence, “So. What do we do with the Jedi?”
Hunter sighed and said, “Well we can't keep her.”
Tech had an expression he was deep in thought as he distractedly said, “Currently, Jedi are worth a million credits. We could always turn her in and make some money.”
Echo glared at Tech and said, “No, we won't. We can't do that. It wouldn't be right.”
Tech glanced at Echo and said, “Well we can't exactly drop her off at an orphanage or shelter anymore. She'd just get caught or recognized. So, what other option do we really have?”
None of them spoke as they didn’t have an answer. Wrecker quietly said, “Maybe we could just let her go. I mean, she seemed to have taken care of herself pretty good before. And that way she probably won't get caught by the Empire. I mean is there really any other choice?”
There was a long pause before Hunter finally said, “Fine. Then we’ll just let her go.”
None of them spoke until Tech stood up a moment later and began walking towards the back, his hand holding his chin. The others looked at each other and then stood up and followed him, watching him kneel by the gunwell ladder, scanning the floor. Hunter said, “Tech, what is it?”
Tech said, “I’m looking for DNA residue.”
Echo sighed and said, “Tech, what the hell are you doing?”
Tech glanced back at them with confusion and said, “You didn’t notice?”
Wrecker said, “Uh, notice what.”
Tech raised a brow and said, “The Jedi had been concealing her heterochromia where-.”
Wrecker rubbed his head and interrupted, "Heta what?”
Tech sighed and said, “Her eyes were different colors.”
Hunter raised a brow and said, “So?”
Tech said, “Her brown iris matched the clone standard.” He picked up a hair and inspected it, “I wanted to run a complete genetic test to see if she had any relation to the clone template.”
Echo said, “Tech, you can’t do that.”
Tech looked up at him surprised, “Why not?”
Echo crossed his arms, “Tech if you’re trying to prove she’s a clone, or, like, a clone’s kid or something, then you of all people should already know that it’s impossible. It’s probably just a donor.”
Tech looked contemplative and said, “That is true, but she did conceal it which could-”
Echo said, “Do you really think that a Jedi would want to show off their clone eye transplant right now?”
Tech hummed and said, “No, but I would rather just do the test to get confirmation.”
Hunter also crossed his arms, “Tech, how many times have we told you that you can’t perform experiments on us, or anyone else, without their permission?”
Tech didn’t respond, but he didn’t get the chance to as a moment later Omega popped her head down and said, “Tech, do we have any bacta pens?”
Tech stood up and walked to Omega, “We still have a few left. Why?”
“She asked for one. Do you think you could also grab my blanket?”
Tech nodded and went to the back. Echo said, “What damage has she caused?”
Omega shook her head and said, “None.”
Hunter said, “Well, where is she?”
Omega looked behind her and slowly said, “She still seems scared. I think she wants to stay up here.”
Hunter sighed and said, “Fine. Let her know that we're not going to turn her in and we'll let her go when we land.”
Omega tilted her head and said, “Let her go? But I think she needs help and she doesn't have anyone else. Can't she stay with us?”
Wrecker said, “Does she want to stay with us?”
Omega grabbed the blanket and pen from Tech and hopefully said, “Well I could ask.”
Tech said, “Why would she want to stay with people she's clearly terrified of? She won't want to stay. The odds are in favor that she wants to leave too.”
Omega said, “But shouldn't we help her?”
Echo said, “She seemed to be doing fine on her own. And we’ll actually be doing her a favor by just letting her go. We can't exactly take her anywhere without her potentially getting recognized. Letting her go off on her own is really the only answer.”
Omega was silent for a moment before she quietly said, “I suppose.” They could all see she didn't look happy about it.
Omega went back into the crawlway and went back to the Jedi, who hadn’t moved a millimeter, although she was no longer actively crying, and she was just mournfully holding her legs. Omega got closer and held up the blanket, “I brought my blanket anyways. I'm not sure how long the trip is.”
The girl grabbed the blanket and after a moment she wrapped it around herself. Once situated, she looked at Omega and did the gesture she had done in the sewer, touching her chin for a moment.
Omega adjusted her legs and leaned forward, “The squad said they were going to let you go. When we land I mean.”
The girl's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
Omega said, “No really, we will.”
The girl didn’t stop staring at Omega with doubt.
Omega sighed and held out the bacta pen and said, “Here.”
The girl looked grateful and quickly took the pen and shot it into her neck, a look of relief spreading across her face. Omega said, “Did you need anything else?”
The girl shook her head and her lips flickered into a smile before she pulled the blanket around her tighter.
Omega said, “Well if you need anything, don’t be afraid to call for me.”
Omega took one last look at the Jedi, watching as she adjusted herself before resting her head on her legs, probably trying to rest for a bit, so Omega left her in peace.
Wrecker helped Omega down and she looked at the others pleadingly, “She really can't stay with us?”
Hunter said, “Sorry Omega. With a bounty hunter on our trail, we need to keep a low profile and Jedi are notoriously bad at doing that.”
Omega glumly said, “I understand.”
Tech said, “Speaking of the bounty hunter, I was actually working a comm for you Omega.”
Omega's eyes lit up, “Really?”
Tech went over to her and pulled something from one of his pouches. He put the vambrace on Omega’s forearm and made a few more adjustments. Tech said, “It’s not an exact fit.”
Omega said, “I get my own comm device?”
Tech said, “Well technically, it was Crosshair’s, but he doesn't appear to need it.”
Hunter said, “You’re now Havoc 6.”
The men had talked about it. Even though Crosshair had betrayed them, and it was his comm, they didn't want to give Omega Crosshair’s comm number. It felt almost like they were replacing him. Even if that is what kind of happened, it just felt too weird to have her use his number as well.
Omega pressed it and they heard it echo on all of their devices, “This is Havoc 6. Havoc 5, what’s your position, over.”
Echo cleared his throat and said, “It’s not a toy, Omega.”
Omega grinned slyly and said into the comm, “Copy that.”
Omega spoke normally and said, “So where are we going?”
Echo said, “Ord Mantell.”
Omega said, “Why are we going there? Isn’t Ord Mantell a populated planet? I thought the plan was to lay low.”
Hunter said, “It is, but there’s also a bounty hunter’s after you. We need to find out why.”
Echo said, “I know of an informant there named Cid. He might be able to help.”
Wrecker said, “And you trust him?”
“Well the Jedi trusted him.”
Tech said, “The Jedi who are all dead.” His eyes looked up at the cover to the maintenance crawlways and corrected himself, “Well mostly dead.”
They all looked up as well and none of them spoke. Echo sighed and said, “Well does anyone have a better option?”
They heard Omega’s voice echo on all their comm devices again, “He has a point.”
They all looked at her and Omega quickly said, “Right, not a toy.”
A little later they pulled out of hyperspace and flew down into Ord Mantell City, as per Echo’s instructions. They landed in an empty docking bay and were about to leave when Hunter stopped at the door and turned towards the back. Hunter called out, “Hey kid. Can you hear me?”
None of them heard anything and Hunter said, “Don’t make me come up there.”
A second later they heard a small clang above them. Hunter said, “We’re leaving the ship and we’ll leave it open. You’re free to leave whenever you want.” Hunter decided to reiterate slower, “We aren’t going to turn you in.”
There was no response this time and after a long pause, Hunter said, “Alright … I guess that’s taken care of.”
Hunter turned back and opened the door and they walked out. Omega walked next to Hunter and said, “Hunter, she'll be okay right?”
Hunter gave a slight smile and said, “Yeah, I’m sure she'll be okay. That one’s a survivor.”
Omega let out a sigh of relief and said, “Good.”
—
After meeting with Cid, after Omega somehow managed to recognize her, and got a mission to rescue someone from slavers in exchange for information, they quickly stopped to get some rations with the money from Pantora. But rather than linger and eat, they headed back to the docking bay. But before Wrecker walked on board with their crate of rations, he stopped. He turned around and whispered, “Do ya think she's still on board?”
Hunter was doubtful but he still went inside listening carefully. He couldn’t hear anything unusual. He took a deep inhale and he could faintly smell her, a strange and kinda unpleasant mix of mud, iron, and, oddly, bird, but it didn’t smell fresh. He said, “It’s hard to tell.”
Tech walked inside the cockpit and began to start up the ship, “It is rather improbable. She had most likely run back into the city.”
Hunter turned to the back and looked up. The cover to the maintenance crawlway was moved just enough for a small child to have slipped through. Hunter turned back to the rest of the squad who had boarded and said, “Yeah, I think she’s gone.”
The men accepted the answer, but the youngest still found herself unsure as she watched Wrecker move the panel back into place.
They began flying to the outskirts of the city in silence for a bit. But soon Wrecker’s migraine came back. Wrecker had had a number of concussions over the years, but none of them lasted this long. Tech had already confirmed the concussion was gone from their crash on Ordo, so it was concerned that it was still bothering the giant.
Hunter said, “You all right?”
Wrecker winced and rubbed his head as he said, “Yeah, yeah, it’s nothing.”
He stood up and went to the back, still rubbing his head. Omega and Echo came up and took his place as Tech said, “According to Cid’s intel, the Zygerrian slave traders are hiding in the ruins of Old Ord Mantell City.”
Omega was playing with her doll and casually asked, “What’s a slave trader?”
Tech said, “Someone who buys and sells people for credits.”
Omega looked up confused and said, “People can be sold?”
Echo looked rather sour as he said, “They don't have a choice. They're captives treated like property.”
Omega shrunk a little and cautiously said, “That doesn't seem right.”
Echo said, “It’s not. And we're going to stop it from happening to that kid.”
Tech added, “As well as earn a decent amount of credits once the job is complete.”
Echo halfheartedly said, “Yeah, that too,” and he walked towards the back.
Omega looked at her doll and said to herself, “Don’t worry Muchi, we'll rescue you.”
—
They landed close to the ruins of the old city and walked off the ship. They took out the scopes and through them could see the large ship in what was probably once a city park, and they spotted the captives, including a young Falleen child, who were all chained up and collared by a fountain not too far away.
Tech said, “I only see one child.”
Omega looked up and said, “Poor Muchi. She looks scared.” Omega couldn’t help but glance back at the ship.
Tech said, “I’m clocking two dozen hostiles. Multiple entry points with minor fortification.”
Wrecker said, “Simple smash and grab, like that time on Kuat. Easy enough.”
Omega looked at Hunter and said, “I’m in. What are we waiting for?”
Hunter grabbed her shoulder as she stood up and held her back, “You get back to the ship.”
Omega said, “But-”
Hunter cut her off hardly, “That’s an order.”
Omega barely resisted a groan. It wasn’t fair. But she glanced back at Hunter and said, “Yes, sir.”
Hunter nodded and then followed his brothers down. Omega turned back to the ship and crossed her arms, allowing herself to pout. She knew she was inexperienced, and yeah, maybe she had already messed up a few times, but she wasn’t going to learn anything if she was always stuck on the ship.
Omega took her mind off the unfairness of the situation, by painting the clone trooper doll Hunter had retrieved on Pantora. When she had explored the ship, she had found a couple small cans of paint from what she assumed was Crosshair’s locker, since it was the same one she had accidentally found his sniper in.
Once she finished she showed it to Gonky, their battery droid, and said, “Now she’s a Bad Batcher. What do you think?”
Based on its binary response, it wasn’t very impressed. The droid was nice, but it wasn’t the greatest conversationalist, although for a GNK droid, it did have a very colorful vocabulary.
Omega sighed and then glanced up at the ceiling. She thought for a moment and then called out, “You’re still here, aren’t you?”
Omega didn't hear anything and with some help from Gonky, she was able to get up into the upper section of the ship. She began crawling and sure enough she found the kid was almost exactly where Omega had seen her last, although her legs were crossed now and her eyes were significantly less red and puffy and she had put the patch back over her brown eye.
The Jedi glanced at Omega and looked away quickly.
Omega got closer and sat down and said, “Why didn't you leave?”
The girl shook her head and held out her hand. Omega scooted closer and watched her trace WATCHING into Omega’s palm.
Omega said, “Watching for what?”
She traced OVERYOU.
“But why?”
DANGER.
“I’m not in danger. I already told you, my brothers aren’t dangerous.”
The girl shook her head and repeated DANGER.
Omega said, “Well you don't need to stay for me. I'll be safe.”
She shrugged and drew up her knees.
Omega looked at her and said, “You know I don’t think I know your name. I'm Omega by the way.”
The girl glanced at her, but right before she could start tracing, they stiffened hearing an unfamiliar voice say, “We found their ship.”
Omega said, “Oh no they found us.”
She started to crawl, but something grabbed her and she looked back to see the Jedi holding her wrist. She let go and made a motion and then squeezed past Omega. She got to the end of the branch and Omega looked down the hall with her towards the opening to the maintenance crawlway.
Omega whispered, “I’ll go close it,”, but the Jedi shook her head and raised her hand and closed her eyes. After a moment the Jedi’s brow furled and Omega saw the wall panel twitch before sliding shut on its own.
Omega had to admit: that was pretty cool.
A moment after it closed, through the slits they saw a head appear from the bottom level and they both ducked back into the branching hallway.
Omega saw the Jedi put a finger to her lips and they watched a light shine through the grate in their direction. They both waited tensely but after a moment the light turned off and a voice muttered, “Clear.”
Omega started to move out, but the Jedi held out her arm, blocking Omega. Omega whispered, “But the squad could be in trouble. We need to go help them.”
The Jedi held up her finger to her lip and Omega listened. They could faintly hear the sounds of someone walking through the ship. They waited as they walked to the end, but soon they turned back and they could hear someone gruffly say, “The ship is clear.”
Omega let out a breath of relief and then looked at the girl carefully. Omega said, “You’re a Jedi. Do you think you could help me save them if they are in trouble?”
The girl looked up at Omega with surprise and with wariness. Omega could see her contemplating for a long time. She had been perhaps thinking for a minute before she finally looked at Omega and gave her a small nod.
They crawled out of the vents and went down into the ship. Omega grabbed a pouch and the Jedi brought her satchel. They both glanced out of the ship hatch, making sure it was clear before they ran outside.
Omega stopped at the overhanging cliff and first tried her comm, but no one answered. But when she took the scopes from the pack she could see the rest of the squad was now tied up with the rest of the slaves. Omega looked at the girl and said, “Come on,” and they both ran into the city following the dust trail left behind from the speeders.
Omega ran after it, but the Jedi moved a lot more carefully, staying close to the walls, and constantly glancing around her, following Omega’s lead. The dust trail soon ended, but when it did they heard some noises coming up ahead. The girl tapped Omega and pointed at a building and then pointed to the top before running inside.
Omega followed. They ran up a couple flights of stairs but the building was in poor state and the top of the building had collapsed. Omega started to climb to the opening, but the girl tapped her and made a series of motions.
She first gestured to herself and then raised and lowered her hand, twice with her hand in a different position, before finally pointing at Omega.
Omega quietly said, “What?”
The girl sighed silently and rolled her eyes. She then pointed at Omega, then the hole, then herself.
Omega hesitated, still unsure what she was trying to say. The girl held out her hand and Omega watched her trace LIFT into her palm.
Omega looked at her in surprise and said, “You can lift people? Does being a Jedi make you that much stronger?”
The girl shook her head and finally just raised her hand. A moment later Omega felt herself being lifted up by nothing. The girl raised her up through the hole. But she let Omega go a little too high, and when the Jedi did let go, Omega ended up stumbling onto her knees.
Omega had never floated before. That was kinda fun.
Omega looked back down and whispered, “Do you need a rope?”
The girl shook her head and stepped back. She started to run and jumped up the hole. But she didn’t quite make it over and instead hit her chest against the side. She managed to claw her hand against the edge and held on, but it was clear she was slipping.
Omega went over and grabbed her hand and pulled her up onto the top of the building.
Omega whispered, “Come on.”
The girls both stood up and they went to the edge of the building.
—
Hunter glanced over and said, “What are our odds out of this Tech.”
Tech unhelpfully replied, “I am not certain.”
Wrecker said, “So much for being smart.”
Tech sighed, looking annoyed, and said, “This is not a standard military operation, and seeing as how we’ve never been tasked with rescuing a child from slaver traders before, there is no data I can compare it to.”
Hunter quietly said, “We need to signal Omega before the scouts find her.”
Echo said, “Except our comms are over there with our weapons.”
Tech looks up and after a moment he said, “We won't need a comm to signal her. And it seems our stowaway hasn't left.”
They all followed Tech’s gaze and sure enough they could see two small children looking at them from the top of a crumbling building. Omega must have seen them look at her, because she waved down at them.
Wrecker loudly whispered, “I thought you said she was gone.”
Tech, with a touch of annoyance, said, “I said it was improbable, not certain.”
Omega looked at them and then made a gesture where she pointed to herself, and then to them.
Hunter quickly shook his head, knowing that Omega wanted to try and help them.
They saw the Jedi kid stand up and back up and they could see that she was wearing a patch over one eye for some reason.
Well at least Omega was with a Jedi. She should be safer this time. The Jedi started running and they watched her leap off of the building and onto the roof of another, and when she landed, she promptly tripped and fell flat on her face.
Well they were screwed.
Unfortunately something else drew their attention. A one eyed Zygerrian, the one who was clearly highest ranked, approached them and drawled, “Look at what we have here.”
All of them tried to give him their attention while still watching the two kids. The head slaver continued, “Four new slaves to add to my collection. Strong ones too. You should fetch a nice price.”
Hunter glanced up and watched as the Jedi held out her hand, and slowly pulled Omega across the gap with the Force, before the two kept going.
Echo stared at the slaver with loathing and replied, “The Republic outlawed slavery.”
The slaver drawled, “We’re not in the Republic anymore, skug.”
Echo glanced up and could see the kids were looking around, but not moving. They were probably unsure where to go, so Echo loudly said, “You’re lucky we don’t have our gear because this would go very differently for you.”
Sure enough a moment later, they saw Omega point at their gear and she started to climb down while the Jedi instead jumped down, and when she landed, she fell once again, but onto her side this time.
The girls both slowly made their way around the slavers and they managed to stay quiet. The Jedi was very good at covering Omega's back.
There was a moment when Omega jumped down from a crate and knocked a large stone off the ledge she was on, but rather than clatter noisily to the ground, it instead stopped in midair. They could see the Jedi’s hand was out and the rock went back up and into the Jedi’s open hand, before she placed it on the ground.
The only problem was that it seemed this Jedi was extremely clumsy. Every single time she jumped or landed, she would land quietly on her feet before she stumbled and about half of the time she would fall on her face or to the side. Every single time it happened, the men lost a little more faith.
They finally landed on the large cage, and as predicted, the Jedi immediately tripped and planted her face into the top of the cage.
Omega whispered, “You okay?”
The Jedi got up and started rubbing her chin, where it was starting to bleed a bit from all the times she fell. She nodded but then looked down in confusion and Omega followed her gaze kneeling down beside the Jedi.
They both looked up at each other and could tell they had the same idea.
The men watched as the Jedi wrote something down on top of the cage. Omega added something to it and held out her hand. The Jedi promptly shook it and they both moved, all of the men instantly filled with dread, although they weren’t sure why.
Omega jumped off and made her way over to their gear. The Jedi went to the front of the crate. She watched the Zygerrians carefully and then she jumped down. She stumbled and this time she fell against the side of the crate. She quickly got up and they watched her do something by the front of the crate.
However in the Jedi’s fall, she ended up attracting the attention of a slaver. They went to inspect the noise and found the kid and immediately grabbed her from behind. A moment later the slaver yelped, attracting the attention of everyone in the vicinity.
He pulled out his whip, activated it, and snarled, “You dare bite me.” Despite the seriousness of the situation, Hunter couldn’t stop his lips from flickering into a smile, however it immediately disappeared when they saw the slaver bring the whip down on the Jedi. She didn’t cry out but they saw her back arch before she fell down.
Omega took advantage of the moment and ran up to their gear and began grabbing it.
The slavers were oblivious to Omega and the one eyed slaver walked over to the Jedi. He sneered at the fallen Jedi and said, “What is this?”
Omega grabbed their blasters and started making her way to them. But the Jedi looked up at the slaver and held something out. It was the pin of the crate. She unlocked it.
The Zygerrians looked up quickly and the head slaver yelled, “Secure the cage.”
But it was too late. The doors banged open and they all saw an adolescent rancor burst out of the cage and roar loudly.
Omega finally reached them and dropped their weapons on the ground, “Here.” She grabbed Hunter’s vibroblade and began cutting through his cuffs. Once Omega finished Hunter’s cuffs, he took the blade from her and began cutting through the others’.
The Zygerrians were still oblivious to their prisoners' escape and instead started shooting at the rancor. The head slaver ordered, “Stop her. Don’t let her get away.”
His men started firing their energy bows, but if the bows bolts weren't deadly against a human, then they were rather useless against a rancors thick hide, besides annoying it and making it even angrier. They all watched it roar at its captors before lifting a boulder, throwing it at them, and then chasing them.
Tech stood up, his cuffs broken and said, “A rampaging adolescent rancor is not the distraction I was anticipating.”
Wrecker lifted his freed hands in victory and then grabbed the chain and began pulling on it as he said, “That’s their problem. We’re getting outta here.” Once the chain was broken and the other captives were freed, he reached up and broke the shock collar around his neck.
They started to help the others as the rancor began to follow the head slaver and his flying steed. Echo used his scomp as a drill to break the collars, and Omega went up to the Falleen kid and said, “It’s okay, Muchi. We’re here to take you home.”
The kid however just looked confused, and the older Falleen came over and said, “Unni gana Muchi.” They pointed at the rancor and said, “Muchi, Muchi.”
Echo’s eyes got big, “The rancor is Muchi?”
That certainly made things difficult.
Hunter and Tech had gotten the rest of their gear and tossed Echo his pack, “Gear up. We have to go after Muchi. If we don’t capture her, we don’t get our intel from Cid.”
They started to move but Omega turned back and said, “Come on we need to-. Wait.” She glanced around but the Jedi was gone, “Where did she go?”
Echo went back and said, “It doesn’t matter. We need to keep going.”
Omega took one desperate glance back, but was forced to start following Echo since it was clear the Jedi wasn’t around.
Once out of the courtyard Hunter knelt. After a moment he stood up and pointed towards the direction the rancor had run off too.
Omega said, “Wait, what about them,” and she gestured to the handful of prisoners who had been tied up and who had followed them.
Echo said, “Omega and I will get them to safety. You find Muchi.”
Hunter nodded and said, “Right. Go for the speeders at the south entrance.”
Tech translated and the captives began to follow Echo and Omega, while Tech and Wrecker followed Hunter.
They turned around a corner and stopped. The rancor was single handedly fighting over a dozen slavers simultaneously. They were whipping and shooting at the beast, but they weren’t stopping it.
Wrecker said, “She’s doing fine on her own.” It was true. In the 10 seconds they had watched, Muchi had already taken out at least four of the slavers.
They saw a slaver shoot an electric net down and miss. The rancor yelled up at them, but a moment later they all saw something weird. Suddenly the Zygerrian was fighting against the blaster, like someone was pulling on it. A moment later he lost the invisible battle and the blaster clattered to the ground.
The young Jedi appeared from seemingly nowhere and she had a deep scowl on her face as she glared up at the slaver, standing fearlessly next to the rampaging rancor. For the first time she really looked like the small warrior she was supposed to be, rather than a fearful child they had seen thus far.
Unfortunately the slaver put two and two together quickly and yelled, “She’s a Jedi. Get her.”
At once, the remaining slavers turned their bows and whips away from the rancor, to the girl and they saw her once again deflate back into a scared little girl
However the rancor moved quickly and took out the remaining few slavers. But once the slavers were gone, the rancor charged the three clones. They tensed, but saw the rancor stop halfway to them.
They glanced at the Jedi, to see if she had stopped Muchi, but she was staring at something behind them as well. A moment later they heard a screech and when they looked behind them, they saw the head slaver and his steed.
He tried to land on them and they managed to scatter. But the slaver's whip was still long enough to reach them, and the lashes were strong enough to make each of them fall. But in the end, they weren’t the slavers' target; he ran right by them, instead bee-lining toward the Jedi and Rancor.
Muchi roared and the Jedi leapt onto her back and held onto her collar as the rancor tried to jump onto the steed. It missed as it was much slower then the steed, and instead the slaver managed to whip Muchi’s back, and the young Jedi riding up it, causing them both to fall.
The steed whipped around and hit both the Jedi and the Rancor with its tail, sending them flying. The slaver came back around and raised his whip grinning down at the two beings maliciously. The rancor let out a whine and the Jedi had flinched away, holding her side.
Before the slaver could whip them, Hunter had reached them. He jumped and tackled the one eyed slaver off of his steed. Muchi took the opportunity and it grabbed the Jedi before it began running. The steed growled and then began to pursue, while Hunter faced the slaver.
The slaver spat, “You’re going to pay for this, skug.”
Hunter saw Tech and Wrecker run over and he held his hand back and said, “I’ll handle him. Go get Muchi and the Jedi.”
Tech nodded and the two went off. Hunter drew his vibroblade and ran at the slaver as they raised their whip. They swung and the electric whip wrapped itself around Hunter’s right forearm, the shocks making him groan in pain and making him drop his blade.
He knelt down and then sharply looked up and grabbed the whip. He got back onto his feet and pulled the whip out of the slaver's hands, the current immediately stopping.
The slaver, now weaponless, tried to punch Hunter, but Hunter grabbed his hand and then delivered a brutal mirshmure'cya, a headbutt, to the slaver. He ended with a kick that sent the slaver down to the ground.
—
Tech and Wrecker followed the rancor, and ended up missing most of the fight. They only caught the end, watching the rancor jump on top of the steed and hitting it a few times, before the steed finally wriggled out and flew away.
Both clones lowered their blaster as they saw the rancor turn and walk over to the young Jedi who was holding her ribs. The rancor let out a soft coo and the Jedi smiled up at it.
Wrecker said, “Well what now?”
At his voice the rancor turned to them and roared and began to charge them. They both pulled out their weapons, but before they could do anything, the Jedi ran in front of the rancor and stopped it. She did a couple of motions and then put her hand on the rancor, which seemed to calm it down.
The rancor still stared at the two of them mistrustfully, and when the Jedi glanced back at them, her expression was similar, but Muchi made no motion to further attack them, or to leave.
Wrecker glanced at Tech and said, “Uh, what?”
Tech said, “Unclear.”
Hunter ran over to them and stopped when he saw the scene, holstering his pistols. “What’s going on here?”
Tech said, “It appears that the Jedi has tamed Muchi without disrupting the social hierarchy, but I am unsure what they are currently doing.”
Hunter stepped forward and said, “Hey, kid.”
The Jedi immediately hid behind the rancor, and Muchi roared at him, and pawed the ground, looking ready to charge. But the Jedi put her hand on the rancor and it seemed to calm down again.
Hunter looked at Tech and said, “What?”
Tech shrugged.
A few minutes later, Omega and Echo arrived on a speeder bike. Echo glanced at the scene, and like the others, asked, “Uh what’s going on.”
But the Jedi finally reacted and pointed at Omega before waving her over.
Omega pointed at herself and said, “Me?”
The Jedi nodded and waved her over. Omega started walking but Hunter grabbed her shoulder and shook his head.
Omega sighed and said, “Hunter, I’ll be fine.”
He stared at her for a long moment before he let her shoulder go. Omega walked over but the rancor didn’t react at all, besides sniffing at her. Omega looked at the Jedi and said, “What is it?”
The Jedi held out her hand, but this time when Omega mirrored the motion, the Jedi gently grabbed her hand and placed it on Muchi. The Jedi placed her hand next to Omega and the rancor let out a soft gurgle before laying down onto its side with a dopey and drool-y grin.
The Jedi smiled softly and then scratched by the rancor's nostrils before she turned and began to walk away. Omega looked away from the rather cute rancor and said, “Wait, where are you going?”
The Jedi turned around and shrugged but kept walking.
Omega said, “But you can't leave. There's nothing here.”
She shrugged again and this time when she glanced back, she looked at the men.
Hunter said, “Wait, kid.”
She froze and slowly turned to them, looking like she was ready to bolt. Hunter said, “The city's a ways off. We can at least give you a ride.”
She still looked nervous but they could see her contemplating it. Omega said, “Could you at least stay for Muchi? So if she runs off or gets spooked, you could find her and calm her down again.”
They could all see her deflate at that and after a moment she turned around and slowly walked back towards the rancor.
—
Unfortunately, the rancor was too big to fit into the Marauder so they split up. Tech flew the ship back into the city, while the rest of them walked Muchi back to the main city, which was only about 3 klicks away.
Omega bounced around the whole time, going from the rancor who she rode on and played with, to the Jedi who she held a one sided conversation with, to her brothers to satisfy her curiosity. The Jedi stayed close to Muchi and kept her distance from the men. But that gave them the opportunity to talk.
However once they entered the city, it changed mostly because Muchi drew so much attention. Omega had discovered that the rancor didn’t mind being ridden and was currently sitting atop its large shoulders as it parted the street. But the Jedi fell behind. She still followed them all the way to Cid’s, but it wasn’t obvious that she was a part of their group.
When they arrived outside of Cid’s bar, rather than meeting Cid, they met a pale one-tailed Twi'lek man who immediately went up to the rancor and started cooing at it in an unfamiliar language. But Cid appeared a moment later, pushing past the Gamorrean guards with the Twi'lek.
Her scowl vanished and she said, “See Bib? All is well. Now about the matter of payment.”
The Twi'lek, Bib assumedly, snapped his fingers and one of the guards handed three cases to Cid.
Omega slid off as Bib talked to the rancor and started leading it away. Omega and Wrecker both waved at it and the latter said, “Bye, Muchi.”
The rancor turned back and roared at them, and then turned forward and roared at the Jedi who was lingering several meters away from them, before it kept following Bib.
Cid said, “Gotta say, fellas. I wasn’t sure you could pull this job off.”
Echo’s nose wrinkled in annoyance as he said, “You could have told us we were going after a rancor.”
Cid hummed and rolled her eyes as she said, “Must’ve slipped my mind.”
She pointed at Hunter, “You, dark and broody. My office.”
Cid turned and began to walk. Hunter took a step but then stopped and looked down the street. The rest followed his gaze, looking at the little Jedi. She was holding one of her shoulders and had been watching the rancor leave. But she must have sensed them looking at her as she froze and glanced back. Her expression clearly said that she expected them to pull out their blasters and turn them to her at any second.
Omega said, “Where will you go?”
She shrugged. But then she spun around and to their surprise she saluted. But her salute was perfect, with everything at the right angle. She offered a tiny flickering smile and she turned around and began to walk.
Omega stepped forward and said, “You don't have to leave.”
She stopped but didn't turn to face them.
Wrecker said, “We talked about it on the way back. We don’t mind if you stay with us a little longer.”
Echo said, “At least until you find someone else you can go with. You shouldn't be on your own, especially these days.”
Tech said, “And having you around could increase our success in missions by approximately 25%, even considering your young age.”
Omega said, “Please? Just a little longer.”
A breeze came down the street towards them and they watched it flutter through the Jedi’s matted hair and large jacket. The breeze revealed her small frame under the poorly fitting clothes. It also blew through her sleeves; the fabric so loose that you could barely even tell she had any arms.
She looked and she cocked her head, almost like she heard something and she sighed. She slowly turned to face them. She still looked cautious but she shrugs one of her shoulders and offers a tentative smile.
Omega brightened and said, “Really?”
She nodded a little and held one of her shoulders.
They hear Cid call up, “Hey, I don’t have all day. You want this information or not? Time is money.”
Hunter ignored her and said, "So what's your name, kid.”
She opened her mouth but closed it and approached Omega. She still glances between them, like she’s expecting them to attack her.
They all watch with curiosity as she traces letters into Omega’s palm.
Omega said, “Celeste?”
She nods.
Hunter said, “Well, welcome to the squad, Celeste.”
He turned to the bar and headed towards Cid. The rest followed Hunter down to the bar, but rather than going to Cid, they all took a seat at the bar, the Jedi, Celeste, stood away from them, still keeping her distance.
Echo looked at her and said, “You got a destination or somewhere you want to go?”
Celeste shook her head.
Wrecker said, “Well what about a family or friends or something?”
She shook her head again.
Tech said, “Not even other Jedi?”
Celeste looked down at that and shook her head and then made a symbol with one of her hands.
Wrecker leaned forward and said, “Tooka got your tongue or something, kid. We won’t bite ya.” Wrecker punched Echo’s shoulder and laughed before he said, “But I guess she already did.”
She stepped back and shrugged, but rather than smiling at the joke, she just looked more anxious.
Omega smiled and said, “Well we can help you find someone.”
Celeste gave Omega a small smile back and she rubbed at her eyes.
Tech held his hands on the table and said, “Is there a reason you're hiding your heterochromia from us, Celeste?”
Echo elbowed Tech as hard as he could, but it was already too late. Celeste immediately recoiled away and her blue eye began darting to the bar entrance. She started breathing heavily and she looked like she wanted to run.
To their surprise she didn’t run. Her bottom jaw was trembling when she finally glanced back at Tech. She took a deep breath and took off the eye patch. She pointed to her brown eye, and then to Tech. She then placed her hand on her chest and then covered up her brown eye before pointing back at Tech keeping the eye closed.
Their best guess was that she had a clone eye and she covered it up around clones. But they didn’t get a chance to confirm.
Hunter and Cid walked out from the office after Cid told the Sergeant about Fennec Shand and her promising to keep them secret. But as soon as Cid saw Celeste she grabbed a broom and loudly said, “Hey street rat, scram. This isn't a halfway home. Get out of here.”
She walked directly up to Celeste and literally tried to sweep her out.
Omega stood up and quickly said, “Wait, she's with us.”
Cid looked at the boys suspiciously and said, “Oh really?”
Hunter nodded and crossed his arms, “Yeah.”
Cid looked back at the dirty child and said, “That’s real cute.” She used the broom again and this time managed to push Celeste on the floor, “Scram, rat. Go find someone else to leech off. You won't be staying here.”
Omega quickly moved in front of Celeste and said, “Why not?”
Cid gestured around and said, “Does this look like a shelter?” She pointed the boom handle at Omega and said, “You feed a rat one day, you feed every rat for the rest of your life. Cut her loose while you still can.” She looked back at Hunter, “If she's staying, you're paying extra for her and every other charity case you decide to bring in.”
Behind Cid, Omega stubbornly said, “Fine, but she's staying with us.”
Cid rolled her eyes and said, “Fine. Whatever.” She stared at Hunter, “Mark my words, you'll regret taking her in.”
Cid walked away and they all looked back to the Jedi who was still on the floor, looking very small and defeated. Wrecker walked over and held out his hand, “You alright, kid?”
Celeste flinched and scooted away from Wrecker's outstretched hand, tears forming in her eyes and they could all see her begin to shake.
“Oh, uh sorry.” Wrecker retracted his hand and rubbed his head.
Celeste stood up, and she was shaking so hard they were surprised she could keep herself standing and began to walk to the door.
Omega said, “Wait, you don't have to leave.”
Celeste wiped her nose and made a few motions, but this time it all went over their heads.
Omega guessed and said, “Well you can, um, still stay. We still want you.”
Celeste rubbed her eyes with her palm and looked at them mournfully before tracing on the wall, SHIP, before she walked out.
Omega went to follow her but Hunter put his hand on her shoulder and quietly said, “Give her some space. She's just scared.”
Omega nodded but in the end she could only wait about a minute and half before she, along with Wrecker, went after Celeste.
Once they were gone the other three sighed. Hunter said, “I’m not sure this was such a good idea anymore.”
Echo said, “Well we already agreed to it. If she's really too scared to even work with us then, yeah, maybe this won't work out.”
Hunter said, "Yeah, I guess we'll see.”
Tech said, “The benefits could be rather great. Historically, working with Jedi has always improved our success rate by over a hundred percent.”
Hunter said, “Even with scared Jedi children who don't have any weapons.”
Tech hummed and said, “That is why I said it would be about 25%. Once she realizes we aren’t a threat it will probably rise to about 66, 67%.”
Echo said, “Yeah, and how long will that take?”
Tech hesitated before he said, “I am unsure.”
There was silence. Hunter said, “Well I guess we’ll find out.”