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leapingbadger · 2 days ago

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Chapter 7 - The Offer

Summary: As he recovers from surgery, Hunter tries to find out more about their strange new friend and makes her an offer she can't refuse.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63246460/chapters/162167857

Hunter heard the whir of the machine first. He could taste the sterile, disinfectant smell of the room in the back of his throat. His body jolted as he was pulled out of the machine. He opened his eyes gingerly. A face swam in front of his vision, but he couldn’t make it out yet, just large eyes and a yellow halo.

“Hunter?” Omega’s voice whispered excitedly.

“Ugh. Yeah Kid. I’m here.” He rasped out, his voice sounding dry.

He blinked his eyes again and Omega came into focus. Her hands hung off the side of the slab, her face so close to his he could count the freckles across her nose.

“Where’s Tech?” he asked, quickly realizing the room was devoid of his brother’s scent.

“He took Crosshair back to the barracks. He hasn’t come back yet.”

Hunter sat up quickly, his vision swimming slightly. He jumped down off the machine and crossed to his armor, “I should go find him.” He said gruffly.

“You can’t, you need to rest.” Omega said, rushing to his side and he swayed slightly.

“I’ll be fine. You should probably get back to where you’re supposed to be.” He said, his hand jolted out to grab the chair in front of him to steady himself.

Omega gently took his elbow and helped guide him into the chair. “I need to bandage your head before you do anything.”

Hunter felt the room swirl and closed his eyes. He heard the light patter of Omega’s feet as she crossed to the med kit and got the needed supplies. She pressed the bandage to his temple a little too aggressively, but he tried not to wince, not wanting to make her feel bad.

“All set,” she said with pride as she stepped away from him. His hand went to his head and felt the bandage and a distinct lack of hair. His brothers would no doubt have a field day with him having a bald spot, but he supposed in this case, it was worth it.

“I think your bandana will cover it,” Omega said, seemingly reading his mind. She unwrapped the red cloth from her wrist and gave it back to him.

He chuckled, “Thanks, Kid.” He said, pulling the bandana up to his forehead, holding the two ends at the back of his head with one hand, the other feeling for the bandage. “I think you’re right. But I’ll get a new one from the barracks. This one’s a little tired anyway. Unless…you want it,” he said, handing it back to her.

She took it excitedly, tied a knot at the ends and wrapped it back around her wrist. Hunter suddenly realized why she looked so familiar. She had the same shape face as Tech when he was a cadet. He was never as scrawny as Crosshair or a broad as Wrecker. If she had goggles, the likeness was uncanny, despite the blonde hair.

She finished twisting the bandana around her wrist like a bracelet, deliberately making sure the white skull was upright and visible.

“Omega, are you safe here?” Hunter found himself asking into the silence, “with Nala Se? Does she…treat you well?”

He and his brothers had a lot of experience with the Kaminoan’s and Nala Se in particular. She wasn’t what he would call warm and didn’t object to questionable experimentation on them when they were cadets. She likely masterminded most of the tests. They had grown used to it, but the older they got and the more they mixed with the regs, the more his squad realized just how brutal their upbringing had been, even by Kaminoan standards. He didn’t want the same to be happening to this young girl.

“Oh, I…I don’t know.” She said at last, her eyes on her feet.

Hunter was weary not to bring up a subject that would upset her but pushed on. “Do you have tests done from time to time?” he asked quietly.

Omega nodded her head slightly, her lower lip wobbling. “Nala Se stays with me though. Sometimes she holds my hand.” She said.

He couldn’t recall Nala se showing him or his brothers such tenderness as they were poked with needles or had electrodes stuck to them.

Hunter took Omega’s hand gently in his and rolled up her sleeves. He had to catch his breath and set his face, so he didn’t outwardly react to the scars and pin pricks on the girls arms. He rolled up her other sleeve only to find the same thing. Omega’s wide eyes were intense as she watched him. He didn’t want her to see the fury bubbling beneath the surface, didn’t want to scare her.

“You’re angry,” she stated firmly.

“Omega, we are going to leave Kamino soon. When all our chips are out. Do you want to come with us? We can try and find somewhere safe and….”

Before he could finish his sentence, the young girl had wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his hair. He wasn’t really used to this level of affection. The only person who hugged him was Wrecker and that was usually a full body experience that ended with his feet a foot off the ground.

Hunter patted her back a couple of times as she broke away from him, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said with a smile.

She grinned at him, sniffed and nodded.

Hunter tried to stand again, his feet feeling sturdier underneath him. He finished putting his armor on and pulled his helmet gingerly over his head to avoid disturbing his wound.

“Here, take his,” he said, handing Omega a small, handheld comm. “If you need us, call. We’ll be back here tomorrow night to finish the others.” She nodded with her understanding.

Hunter watched her cross to the door, turning back to give a final wave and broad smile. He smiled back underneath his helmet and raised his hand when he realized she couldn’t see. “See ya, kid.” He said quietly as she looked both ways before racing to the left.

Hunter turned right and took it slowly as he made his way back to the barracks.

“What are you doing here?” Tech hissed as he walked through the door.

“I live here,” Hunter said as he carefully took his helmet off and collapsed into bed, not even bothering to take his armor off.

“I was going to collect you.” He said quietly but aggressively.

“You look a little pinned down,” Hunter said with a chuckle.

Tech was on Crosshair’s bunk, The sniper curled up on his legs like a loth cat. Wrecker and Echo’s snores drifted over the room and the slow tapping of rain on the window made Hunter’s eyes droop.

“I need to scan you before you fall asleep.” Tech said with a huff.

“Then you better be quick.” The Sergeant mumbled; his arms crossed over his stomach.

His brother extracted himself from Crosshair and ran the scanner over Hunter. “You’ve already been bandaged?”

“Omega,” Hunter said, only partially conscious.

“Hmm. She is…unique,” Tech said.

Hunter tried to nod but didn’t quite manage it as sleep took him. There were a lot of things he needed to talk to his brothers about, Omega being the most important. But they would have to wait until tomorrow.

***

“You did what?” Crosshair hissed.

Tech, Echo and Wrecker’s heads swiveled to the formerly hushed conversation in front of Crosshair’s bunk.

“I think he’s a clone, Cross. We can’t leave her here. It’s not safe.” Hunter said in a low, firm voice. His head still throbbed from last night’s surgery, and he resisted the urge to cradle it.

“And you didn’t think to ask the rest of us?” Crosshair rose from his bed, gesturing for the others to join them. “Do you believe this?” he directed at Tech.

“I assume you a referring to the new…erm…development with Omega?” Tech said as Crosshair scowled in response. “Hunter’s observations regarding her seem cogent and well thought out. I will do my own research to verify, but if accurate, I don’t know how there could be any other course of action.” He said.

Crosshair threw his hands up in the air and turned away from his brothers.

“We were only apart for a few hours. I can’t believe you adopted another kid already,” Wrecker said with a chortle.

Hunter sighed, “I didn’t adopt her, Wreck. I just…”

“How many is this now?” Wrecker continued unperturbed.

“This is a common occurrence?” Echo asked with a smile on his face.

“Well, there was the lost child on Felucia,” Tech interjected, “and Caleb, of course,”

“Fellas, I…” Hunter tried to cut in.

“That injured twi’lek baby. He ran five clicks to get her medical attention.” Wrecker supplied.

“I know there is another, but I can’t recall…let me check my notes,” Tech said, typing furiously into his datapad.

“Oh, and Echo,” Wrecker said with a laugh, throwing Lula at his newest brother.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Hunter said, his head throbbing a little, “Besides, Cross adopted Echo first.” he added, shooting a narrow-eyed look at the sniper.

“I believe even Cody refers to you as the bleeding heart, on occasion, despite your being his favorite.” Tech said with an amused grin.

Hunter’s eyes went wide at the mention of his older brother. “Cody. Do you think he executed the order?”

Tech, Echo and Wrecker exchanged glances all the joy suddenly evaporating from the room, “it is likely he was effected by the order, yes.” Tech said sadly.

“Is General Kenobi dead?” Echo asked.

The silence was thick in the room as Tech checked his datapad.

“Uncertain,” he said at last. “He is listed as missing.”

“But Cody loves Kenobi! He’d never hurt him.” Wrecker said, his brow furrowed

“We’ve seen clearly the effects of the chip, Wrecker. He wouldn’t have had a choice.” Tech said impatiently, “Just like Crosshair didn’t have a choice.”

Crosshair shrank in on himself as the eyes of his brothers fell on him.

“Well, soon we won’t have to worry about it. We’ll all have our chips out and,” Hunter paused mid-sentence, his eyebrow raised as he looked to the door. “someone’s coming,”

The brothers froze, it was unusual for anyone to contact them in their barracks. There was a faint knock at the door.

“That’s never happened before,” Wrecker whispered.

“Um. Enter.” Tech said.

The door slid open ans the brothers all lowered their heads as the person standing in the doorframe was half the size they were expecting.

“Hello,” Omega said with her sunny smile and bright eyes.

Hunter relaxed and went to greet her, “hey, kid.” He said kindly, putting his hand around her shoulder to steer her inside and close the door quickly behind her.

“You should not be here, Omega.” Tech said firmly. “It could draw too much suspicion.”

Omega had wandered away from Hunter and was currently examining the board to the right of the entrance. Her fingers traced the carved tallies before moving around the room. She gazed at Tech’s projects on the central table, wound her way around the brothers who were still frozen to the spot.

“Nala Se is in meetings all morning. She won’t know I’m missing,” the girl said, coming upon Wrecker’s tooka doll and hesitating as she reached for it.

“Go on, Kid. You’re welcome to look at her,” the bruiser said, crossing to her and kneeling down so he could get closer to her level. “Her name’s Lula.” He said as he handed the doll to her. Her little finger traced the dolls long ears before pulling her close and hugging her under her chin.

“She’s amazing,” Omega said to Wrecker, relinquishing the doll and offering it back to him, “You can hang on to her while you’re here.” He said with a smile.

“Omega, this is Wrecker. And Echo is over there,” Hunter said, pointing to a bemused looking Echo who wasn’t really sure what was going on.

Omega waved at both of them, though she clearly knew who they were like she had known Hunter, Crosshair, and Tech the night before.

Omega tucked Lula under her arm and continued her examination of the barracks. She closed in on Hunter’s footlocker, opening it before he could protest and taking out a holopicture he had stuffed inside.

“When was this taken?” She asked as Hunter came to sit on his bunk next to her.

“A few weeks after Echo joined,” Hunter said.

Wrecker came over and took the picture from her, “It’s still weird to see you without your goggles, Tech” Wrecker said with a laugh.

“Yes, well if you hadn’t sat on them, I would have been wearing them,” he said without taking his eyes of his datapad.

“Are you feeling better?” She asked Hunter, suddenly concerned.

Hunter’s hand automatically went to the side of his head, “Ah, yeah. Fine. Is that why you came? To check up on us?”

Omega looked guilty but moved to the other side of the room and to Crosshair, who was still sulking in a corner, “no, not exactly. I overheard one of those imperials talking to Nala Se. He doesn’t like clones. He’s planning a test in the training room…”

“Yes, we are required to attend this morning.” Tech said and he typed furiously into his dadapad.

“You can’t, it’s dangerous” Omega said, her eyes wide and fearful.

“We’ve done hundreds of tests, Kid. It’s nothing to worry about,” Hunter replied with a shrug.

“These ones are different,” Omega said. “Please, don’t go.”

“If we don’t go, they will come looking for us.” Crosshair hissed.

Omega shrank away from Crosshair’s withering look and came to stand next to Echo at the central table. Echo gave her a reassuring smile and she happily settled into the seat next to him, watching as the brothers continued their conversation.

“Perhaps we should be cautious.” Tech said, finally putting his datapad down. “Omega, do you know what these tests entail?”

Omega shook her head, “The imperial didn’t say. He was planning on sending you on a mission, but you were late. Another team went instead, but he wasn’t happy with the result.”

“Why not?” Tech asked.

“They didn’t come back.” Omega said.

The brothers shared an unspoken look.

“Omega, do you know the name of the imperial?” Echo asked, his eyebrows knitted together in concern.

“Not really. Something like Tar…Tarful…Tar..din…”

“Tarkin?” Echo asked, his amber eyes wide.

“Yeah, I think so.” She said.

“Is that the same Tarkin from the Citadel rescue where you were…” Tech started

“Blown up?” Wrecker supplied.

“And turned into that?” Crosshair sniped, jabbing his toothpick at his new brother for emphasis.

Omega scowled at Crosshair.

Echo nodded solemnly, “Yes. And he has never liked clones,” he said, looking directly at Hunter.