aftermath: life debt | the bad batch

xxiv. enigma

"I," he stuttered. "I don't believe-"

"It's true," Hunter replied. "It's true."

Tech had forgotten that Omega was still in the room. He looked up, seeing her across the room. Even though the room was pretty dark, he saw a tear roll down her cheek as she clutched Lula harder. She wiped her eyes with her sleeves and stood up, walking out of the room without a word.

"Did Omega hear me?" Hunter asked.

"She did," Tech said. "Look, I know you guys are going through a lot, so I'll tell you what I need to tell you and get this over with. You can't go to Ord Mantell. I intercepted a transmission from Crosshair to his squadron. They're setting up troopers there. I know you guys are already almost there, but unless you want to die, you'll have to find somewhere else to lay low. Understood?"

"Understood," Hunter said, before going radio silent. Tech put his comm link away for good, and lied back down on the bench. He knew he couldn't tell Omega about the pain he was in. It would worry her too much. He took his goggles off for a brief moment, and rubbed his eyes, then put his goggles back on. One thing was for sure. He needed to go talk to her. He found the strength to stand up, and walked into the room Omega was in.

"Omega?" Tech asked. He saw her lying on the bed, still clutching Lula, with her face buried into her pillow.

"Go away Tech," Omega replied, her voice being muffled.

"I know this is difficult-"

"Yeah, no shit," Omega responded, lifting her head. Tech saw that her cheeks were stained with tears, her eyes glossed over from crying. "Are you going to give me a lecture on why I need to move on? Why this doesn't matter? Well, too bad, Tech. It's not like he left for a little, or even got captured by the empire. If that was the case, we could still get him back. But no. He's dead. Gone. Forever. There's no getting him back. Do you not even care?"

"Omega, I-"

"Let me finish. You weren't there when I thought Hunter had died at the hands of Cad Bane. You found him almost dead, but alive. I was under the impression he died for quite a long time. You don't understand the toll that took on me. I don't want to seem selfish, but it affected me. A lot. That day, I realized that death was closer than I had known. Ever since then, I've been scared that one of us would die. Even though I'm not always thinking about it, it's a thought that's always in the back of my mind. And now that it's actually happened..."

"Listen," Tech said. "I know it's hard. I understand. I lost many brothers during the war-"

"None from your own squadron though!" Omega yelled. "Now that you have, do you feel no remorse? Is it just like any other death during the clone war? Because it shouldn't be. Wrecker was your brother, Tech. And now that this has happened, it's just overwhelming. Even though this has been on the back of my mind constantly, I never thought it would actually happen." Tears started to stream down her cheeks again. "Please Tech. Please just leave."

Tech sighed, nodded, and left the room, sensing that this might lead to a downward spiral. He didn't want to see her go down the same path Hunter did. He couldn't see her go down the same path as Hunter did. Because, with Omega, he knew it would end up being worse.

•••

"Bring the ship out of hyperspace!" Hunter yelled, going to the cockpit.

"Why?" Rex asked. "Aren't we going to Ord Mantell?"

"Tech just contacted me," Hunter replied. "They sent troops to Ord Mantell. They know we go there. They know we're employed by Cid- for god's sake, Rex, take the ship out of hyperspace!"