#and i wanted to draw imperial crosshair dad

[zaana]

AU where protective Crosshair helps Omega flee the empire

[notgonnaedit]

Healer's Love

A Different Approach

Summary: Six months after Eriadu, the remainder of the squad struggles to be whole as they fight for their right to be a family.

Pairing: Bad Batch x Teen!OFC (clones being good brothers/dads)

Chapter summary: Omega, Crosshair, and Batcher make their way home.

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, feels, crying (If I miss a tag LMK)

Masterlist

Tags: @hugmekenobi @nottwonerdy777

@dreamsight73 @delicioustacocollector

@covert1ntrovert @clonethirstingisreal

Omega huffed as she stared at the crashed ship in front of her. "This will take forever to repair."

The top had been ripped off during their crash landing, and the engine was smoking. Batcher whined and jumped out, pacing the bare ground.

"No. There's no time for that," Crosshair said.

Omega turned to look at him. "We need to get the nav reader online to extract the coordinates to Tantiss for when we go back."

The sniper left the ship, backpack over his shoulders. "We're not going back."

Omega stood. "We left the other prisoners behind."

"And the Empire is going to be searching for this ship and us. We have to move. I scanned a spaceport a few clicks east. We'll start there."

Omega sighed. Her breath frosted in the air. It was cold on this planet. She jumped out and followed Crosshair, Batcher with them.

                        •°•°•°•°•

Omega held Batcher to her side as she and Crosshair hid behind a pillar from a few stormtroopers.

"Empire couldn't have followed us here that quickly," she whispered.

"They didn't," Crosshair told her. "That's a standard patrol presence."

The girl furrowed her brow. "Okay. So, let's find a way to send a message to Hunter, Wrecker, and Althea."

Crosshair looked at her. "We can't. They monitor long-range comms. It'll give us away. We'll have to figure out something else."

He took a step forward into the open, but Omega grabbed him. "Wait. We can't walk around like this." She gestured to their prison garb. "We'll draw too much attention."

"You're the one who wanted to bring the hound." Crosshair pointed out.

Batcher whined a nuzzled Omega. The blonde scoffed and scratched the beast's neck. "Don't listen to him. Come on."

Omega ran down the street, Crosshair following soon after. The girl snagged some clothes off a laundry line that were warm and would disguise them. Then, they went to the space port.

Crosshair wanted to storm the place, but Omega had a different idea.

"Hello." She approached the clerk. "We'd like two tickets on the next shuttle, please."

"Chain codes?" He asked.

"About that. We lost our chain codes," the girl lied.

"No chain codes, no passage."

Omega hummed. "Right. But you see, a problem for us could be an opportunity for you if, say, you knew of an alternate way–" she rubbed her fingers together. "–of booking passage without a chain code?"

The clerk leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Are you insinuating that I should take a bribe?"

"If that's what you want to call it." Omega smirked.

"I do. And that could be arranged... for 15,000 credits."

The girl blew out a breath. "For two tickets??"

"Per ticket. And it's nonnegotiable. You're lucky I'm not charging extra for the creature."

"Where do you expect us to get 30,000 credits?" Omega asked.

The clerk folded his arms. "Sounds like a you problem. Don't come back without the credits."

Omega sighed and turned around, walking back to Crosshair.

"Well, that went well," he said.

"Stow it."

                        •°•°•°•°•°•°•

Crosshair didn't know how Omega planned on getting 30,000 credits, but he sure wasn't expecting her to gamble for them. He definitely wasn't expecting her to actually get the money too.

But then an Imperial walked in. An officer. Crosshair coughed to signal Omega. The girl made no sign of acknowledgement.

She looked to the Trandoshan she was playing with, who was begging for another game. 

"I think I'll quit while I'm ahead," she said, gathering her funds.

But the Imperial walked over to her. "Leaving so soon?" He jerked his head at the Trandoshan. "You're in my seat."

He groaned and left. Omega eyed the new man warily.

"So, you think you're good at this game?" He asked. "Want to try against a, uh, real opponent? I insist."

Omega, realizing she didn't have a choice, conceded.

Batcher growled at the man, rightfully so.

"Your mutt don't seem to like me," he said as they played.

Omega didn't look up from her cards. "She's harmless."

"She's a distraction. Get rid of her."

Omega knew there was no negotiating with this guy. She nodded to Crosshair, who clicked his tongue to get the dog to come.

"Never seen you or your dad around before," the Imp mused.

"We're just passing through," the girl told him.

He laid down a card, and the crowd became more attentive.

"Looks like the captain is heading towards a victory," the bartender droid noted.

"Eh, I'll admit, you're not bad. But you seem to have misunderstood your enemy." The captain smirked.

"Did I?" Omega laid down three colorful cards. It was her turn to smirk.

"The three Eastern Stars," the droid announced. "That is game over."

"I'll take those 20,000 credits," Omega said.

A stormtrooper walked over, but the captain waved him off. "I concede. You beat me fair and square. Nicely played."

Omega smiled as he walked away. "Thanks." She scooped her winnings into her bag and walked over to Crosshair. They were home free.

Or so they thought. "Now, hang on a minute," the Imperial said, stopping them. "We're not done here. You haven't paid your fine."

Omega furrowed her brow. "What fine?"

"Gambling's illegal in these parts."

"What?" Crosshair snarled.

"The law is the law," said the captain. "Now, all you gotta do is pay the fine. And I'll be on my way."

"How much?" Omega asked.

"Ten thousand credits. Unless you prefer to be arrested instead."

Omega conceded, shoving the required money into his hand.

"Excellent. Consider your fine paid in full. Try and stay out of trouble."

Omega sighed as he walked away. "Let's get out of here."

Crosshair stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "How many credits do we have left?"

She checked her bag. "Thirty-five thousand. Enough for two tickets on the shuttle and a little extra."

                        •°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

They never did end up using those credits. The slimy Imperial had taken Batcher, and Omega refused to leave without her. In the end, they did Crosshair's plan and blasted their way out, stealing a ship in the process.

Omega piloted through hyperspace, Batcher sitting at her feet.

"The Empire will be able to track this vessel," Crosshair told her. "We need to ditch it."

The girl nodded. "We will. I'm heading to a remote location, and I sent a coded transmission for Hunter, Thea, and Wrecker to meet us there."

Batcher whined at her feet. A sinking feeling settled in Crosshair's stomach. "Omega," he said slowly. "It's... It's been months. You don't know if they're still aliv–"

"They'll be there." The determination in her eyes... She was so sure.

Omega dropped the ship from hyperspace, flying to a grey moon. On the surface was something she wasn't sure she would ever see again.

The Havoc Marauder.

She landed the ship and went out to the ramp. Then she saw them.

Wrecker and Althea stood in the door. The older teen's hair was shorter, but her eyes were the same.

"Now, there's a sight!" Wrecker shouted.

Omega couldn't hold back her tears. "Wrecker! Thea!"

They ran for each other, finally embracing. Wrecker scooped up both girls in the tight hug spinning them around. When he set them down, Althea held Omeha close.

"I wasn't even sure your message was real," she murmured. She chuckled tearfully, tugging at Omega's curls tied back. "You changed your hair."

Omega laughed, tears rolling down her cheeks. "So did you!"

Wrecker knelt down, pulling them all together.

"I knew you'd show up," Omega sniffed.

Wrecker pulled away, wiping his eyes. "We crossed the galaxy four times looking for you."

"Five."

Omega looked behind her brother to see another standing in the ship. "But you're the one who found us."

Omega took a step forward, then another, and before she knew it she was running into Hunter's arms. 

The tracker ran down the steps, skipping some to get to her faster. She collapsed into him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Hunter held her close, cradling her head against him. "We missed you, kid. We never stopped searching." He had to tell her. She had to know they never gave up on her. That their fruitless attempts were not for lack of effort.

Omega sobbed into his neck, her breaths shuddering when she finally pulled away. Hunter brushed her hair – which was now as long as his – out of her eyes. Her face was dirty, the only clean parts being the streaks from tears.

Hunter rested his hands on her shoulders. As happy as he was to see her, a nagging question rose.

"But how did you escape?"

Omega chuckled. "I had help."

Then, Hunter saw him. From the ship Omega arrived in stood a familiar figure. Hunter rose to his feet, his instincts screaming to get the girls behind him.

Crosshair had come too.

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[doopcafe]

Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Replacements (01x03)

Holy shit a new character in Star Wars. I love it.

Comments: All right, so The Dad Batch crashes on some rando planet 'cause their ship took some damage the previous episode. It's pretty astounding that when they got pulled out of hyperspace, they ending up like, right beside a planet. What're the odds?!

(About 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 according to the Internet, give or take a few zeros).

Also, isn't the reason why it takes so long to calculate a hyperspace jump (in the OT and EU) because you gotta predict where all the stars and planets are gonna be so you don't run into anything? If they weren't pulled out of hyperspace wouldn't they have Holdo'd that planet? I don't really know how any of this works.

Anyways, it turns out they need to replace a power capacitor (on the outside of the ship) but, after they do, a monster steals it and runs off. Hunter and Omega go after it while the rest of TDB does f— all back aboard the ship. Hunter is incapacitated and Omega earns some serious respect through a demonstration of bravery by climbing down a horror-movie tunnel with a monster at the end. She exchanges her flashlight for the capacitor, escapes with her life, and completes the mission to the complete shock of Hunter.

That's the A-plot. The B-plot revolves around Tarkin, Crosshair, and a new character, Admiral Rampart. This... is extremely welcome, despite him being a generic Imperial. Still: fresh blood! Great. I love it.

This Rampart's got an idea: Train better soldiers to serve the Empire. Good plan, bro. Military 101 level shit there, that is. Tarkin orders Crosshair to take command of a squad of Rampart's conscripted soldiers, who are tasked with eliminating Saw Gerrera's group of Rebels. After taking out the soldiers, Crosshair is about to execute the civilian prisoners when their leader draws a line and doesn’t want to kill civilians. And then... it gets super dark. Good stuff.

We end on Filoni doing another juxtaposition of the "returning home" motif that worked so well in Rebels: The Honorable Ones. There, Zeb is welcomed home by his family compared to Kallus returning to a cold, dispassionate admiral. Here, Omega returns to the ship to find that Wrecker has made her a bedroom (d'aww) with The Dad Batch standing around. This is contrasted with Crosshair returning to the hollowed-out shell of his old barracks, the only evidence of his former family a series of scrawls in the wall, surrounded by murderers.

Themes!

My enjoyment: 3/5