I Would Come For You

And If I Couldn't Walk, I'd Crawl to You

"Excellent." Omega called into her comm as she watched Mohamed and Keilara fly the ship.

"Now execute a sharp swing back to port with zero thruster pull," she ordered, and winced as they barely missed by inches from crashing the plane into bits.

"Well done," she said, as they grinned back at her, "but you could use subtlety, you know. Speed is excellent when you're in battle or being hunted down, but under normal circumstances, you can come slowly."

"Ma'am yes ma'am."

She walked back with her squad, but in the corridor, she could feel one missing.

"Anybody have any idea where Keilara is?" she asked, puzzled.

And in response, they heard a scream.

"Oh dear," Kolton murmured, and they all bolted in the wail's direction.

Keilara was hanging on for dear life, after failing to scale the plumbing over a water tank full of fish.

"Hold on!" Christa told her, as Omega prepared to shoot her zipline and swing across to take her, like Hunter had done for her once, when they tried to escape from Mokko and his barbaric gang on Ipsidon. Unfortunately, before she could make halfway the path, Keilara's hand slipped and she fell into the water.

She may have drowned, but Omega fished her out by grabbing her arm and hoisting her soaked-to-the-bone cadet, and then holding her all the way back as she slid to the squad.

"Are you hurt?" she asked.

"No, I'm fine, thank you," Keilara replied, now smiling after she got over the shock of the fall.

"What the hell were you doing up there? And how did you escape the guards, and me?"

"I was trying to practice my climbing and I wanted to see the creatures Hawke was talking about. And to your second question, with some charm, genius and luck," she tossed her head with style, "and the Force," she winked at Kolton, "I dodged the guards. You were too busy complimenting the piloting lessons, so you were pretty easy to dodge." She ended, quailing at the indignant and exasperated expression on her commanding officer's face.

"That was some dumbass acrobatics!" Hawke squawked.

Omega raised an eyebrow, whose effect was diminished by the laughter that escaped out of her lips. "You remind me of someone."

"Is this time for another story?" Mohamed asked, excited.

"Sure. Let's go," Omega beckoned, but called over her shoulder, "Christa, put that rifle of yours inside before you blast some pipe on purpose to annoy me."

Snickers followed.

"Well, so this story goes like this.

"On the planet Ipsidon, we had been sent to extract ipsium from a mine that our boss had recently purchased."

"Boss?" Hawke's eyebrows jumped.

"Yes. During the immediate aftermath of Order 66, we had to make a living, but we didn't want to join the Empire, and Hunter cancelled the option of the Rebellion, because he wanted a life of peace. For me.

"Anyways, we went there, and while we were inside making the extraction, we found out that this mine was empty. By the time we came out, somebody had stolen the Marauder, leaving us without any means to move off world.

"Cid, our boss, promised help in a few days, but Hunter knew we didn't have enough means to survive here for even two days. So, I suddenly remembered our droid was in that ship, and I tracked his transponder signal, and we found our ship. It was stolen by a Benni Baro, who worked for a crime lord, Mokko. And Mokko was revoltingly ugly." She grimaced, eliciting laughs from the listeners.

"Anyways, it was a very long travel to where Mokko lived, so we took stops, when a storm came followed by a stampede. We entered another ipsium mine, and I ventured inside to find some nooks and crannies to extract it.

"I found one, but the last source was at a place that if you fell, you had to suffer a very deep fall. Tech was with me, rattling on about the precautions while extracting ipsium. But my foot slipped, and I first dangled on to a small rock, but before Tech could gain a strong footing and pull me over, I fell.

"Luckily, the fall was broken by a waterfall running underground, but two minutes later, Tech jumped and scooped me to save me from any possible dangers.

"Later, after we broke out, and got our ship, we were about to escape when we were cornered, and I got caught. I was taken on top a bridge that ended halfway and resulted in falling into a fiery death.

"I suddenly swivelled around to find Hunter aiming with his grappling hook and fired just at place that if luck was on our side, he would scoop me mid-air. So, I took my chance, and fell, swinging the droid who was throwing me, with me."

"Wait, you dived in? You trusted Hunter this much? What if he couldn't grab you?" Christa asked, shocked, clutching her rifle close.

"Yes. I trusted him with my life, and I knew he'd find a way to rescue me from the molten chasm, even if it meant letting himself take the fall. And I know, that all of them would have done it for me. And I wish I could have saved them, too."

"It's not your fault, Sergeant." Mohamed said quietly, patting her forearm.

"What happened next? Did he make it?" Keilara said, trying to relieve the tension.

"Well, yes of course, otherwise I wouldn't be here, now, would I?" She teases, tugging on the cadet's braid of hair. "When the droid tried to throw me over, I hooked my foot into the bridge such that my back was facing the chasm and I held the droid sentinel's hands tight. The moment I saw Hunter swing from his side, I pulled the droid and let go. The droid fell, but Hunter and I caught each other's hands, and he twisted his arm to let me climb on his back. Now that I think about it, even though I was very small back then, he still was strong enough to not even move an inch while I climbed on his shoulders to get to safety."

"This was so sweet!" Kolton sighs.

"Yes, it was," Omega agrees. "And I try to be as loving and kind to you as my brothers were for me."

"Then that means anytime we fall, you'll pick us up?" Hawke asked, grinning ear-to-ear.

"Not if I'm the one who threw you over." Omega gave him a side-eye.