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ix.
inhibitor chips
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•••
"Omega stay with me," he begged, "stay with me."
She placed her hands on the edge of the bed, trying to restrain herself from having another coughing fit.
"Omega you have to tell me, what did the empire do to you?"
Omega moved her hand from the edge of her seat to wipe the blood off her lip. She then used the same hand to point to the side of her head. She was almost too weak to speak, so she could only say-
"Inhibitor chip."
•••
Her hand fell from where she was pointing to her head, falling to her side, as the last of her energy slipped away from her, as she went into a coma. Echo put the mask on her, trying to get her some oxygen, which helped her current state, but not much.
"What happened?" Echo asked.
"She said she has an inhibitor chip."
"But that's not possible."
"I don't know. At this point, anything can be possible."
"This is still very close to impossible."
"Tech," Hunter said once, ignoring Echo, with no response from Tech. "Tech!"
"Can you be quiet! I'm fixing the ship! It's not just the hyperdrive I'm dealing with!" he shouted back.
"This is more important than the goddamn ship!"
"If you don't shut up we're all going to blow up like Echo did at the Citadel!"
"Make fun of my past, why don't you?" Echo shouted at Tech from the back of the ship.
"What are we going to do?" Hunter asked Echo, clearly worried about Omega.
"We have to remove the chip," Echo said, also worried.
"But that's dangerous, Echo. She could die from that alone."
"What else are we going to do Hunter?!" Echo whisper-yelled, so that Tech wouldn't hear them arguing. "Are we just going to leave it there and have her suffer?"
"I wasn't saying that either," Hunter muttered.
"Are you drunk or something?! Because something isn't making sense. There's no other option. We have to remove it."
"Could you listen to me for a second?"
"Fine, then what were you saying?"
"I don't remember what I was going to say now."
"You've been drinking so much you're starting to lose your memory."
"I'm. Not. Drunk. Echo."
"Hey guys," Wrecker said, leaving the cockpit, and entering the back of the ship where Hunter and Echo were.
"Aren't you supposed to be helping Tech?" Echo asked.
"No, not anymore. He said I was more of a distraction than help," Wrecker said. "Hey, what happened to the kid?"
"Did you not hear anything earlier?" Hunter asked, annoyed.
"She has an inhibitor chip," Echo replied.
"But that's impossible."
"Yeah that's what we thought," Hunter said.
"I need a drink," Echo said, as he started to leave the area they were in and headed to the cockpit. Before he could get too far, Hunter stopped him.
"Don't."
"I don't think you have a say in any of this, Hunter. If you do say anything it'll just make you the biggest hypocrite in the galaxy."
"Listen, that's my problem. But I'm not going to let you get that problem."
"Okay what's wrong?" Tech asked, finally coming to the back of the ship, as the alarm stopped blaring.
Wrecker looked at Hunter, then Echo, then back at Hunter. "Well one of you guys has to say it."
"Why don't you say it?" Echo angrily asked.
"I'm going to mess it up one way or another-"
"Before she slipped into a coma, she said that she had an inhibitor chip," Hunter said, interrupting Wrecker.
"That would explain the cause of her recent headaches, but that's impossible. How would she have an inhibitor chip?" Tech asked.
"Do you think I would know?" Hunter asked. "Do I look like the smart one? No, I'm not, you are. So, if what she said is true, how the hell does she have an inhibitor-"
"Wasskah," Echo interrupted.
"What?"
"Wasskah. Remember, she was in the medical bay when we were going to get her. Then we saw that she was bleeding from the side of her head when we rescued her and we had no idea why. It's probably because they did a shitty job of healing where they put the inhibitor chip."
"But why would the empire give her an inhibitor chip?" Tech asked again.
"What are inhibitor chips designed for? To make us do whatever someone wants. The empire probably wanted information about our whereabouts, and she probably refused to tell them. Therefore, her refusal resulted in them giving her an inhibitor chip, so she could tell them about us, about what we've been doing, and the easiest ways to find us."
"You think this is Crosshairs doing?"
"He's the head of that base. So, unfortunately, it probably was. Who knows. First, it was the project war mantle. It might be for another imperial project, and worse, he might be leading it again."
"Okay guys," Hunter said. "That's all great, but why the hell was she just coughing up blood?! I think that's the more important issue here!"
"That I can't tell you. It might be some other illness."
Wrecker sighed. "So we're heading to Bracca again?" he asked, hoping they would say no.
"I'd have to contact Rex first, but probably. Unless there's a place that has a better medical facility."
"Or maybe one that's not completely abandoned," Wrecker muttered.
"Just get ready for a detour. We aren't going to Kessel anymore, that's for sure."
"Great," Wrecker muttered. "More heights."
"It'll be okay Wrecker."
"Last time, I almost got eaten!"
"And last time we blew up that particular medical bay. I highly doubt you'll get eaten again," Hunter said before calling Rex.
"Hey," Rex said over the call. "Is there anything wrong?"
"Why is that your first assumption?"
"Because it's usually true. Now, is there something wrong?"
Hunter shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah."
"See, I told you."
"Shut up."
"What is it this time?"
"Just meet us at Bracca. We'll discuss this there. I don't know whether the empire can track what we say through this."
"Bracca? What business do you have on that junkyard planet?"
"We'll tell you when we get there. Please, this is important."
"Fine. I'll meet you guys at the same coordinates as last time. This better be important."
"No, we can't do the same coordinates."
"What happened to the medical bay that we went to last time?"
"Well," Hunter started. "Crosshair found us before we could leave, and it kind of blew up."
"You mean Wrecker blew it up?"
"It was a team effort."
"That's great," Rex said sarcastically. "Just prepare to walk really far. The safest coordinates were the ones we met last time."
"We can't do that. Wherever it is, we'll need to land close."
"This must be really bad then."
"On a scale from one to ten, it's probably around a 9 and a half," Tech said loudly, so that Rex could hear over the call.
"Alright, I'll send you the coordinates momentarily. See you then."
Rex ended the call, and Hunter sat back down in the seat behind Tech.
"We aren't going to be doing a job for a while, huh?" Tech asked, rerouting the ship.
"It doesn't look like it." Echo said.
"I'll contact Cid as soon as we reach Bracca," Hunter said. "For now let's just focus on making sure Omega will be okay."
•••
They landed at the coordinates that Rex gave them, far away from where they landed last time. The inhospitable junkyard planet housed many old republic starships, which the Scrapper Guild operated on, breaking down wreckage and selling the components to the Empire. While there was still some land that weren't junkyards, large swathes of the planet's surface were comprised of these junkyards, with countless decommissioned starships and other machinery spread haphazardly, awaiting destruction. The only thing that populated this world were the scrappers, who made a living off of selling the scraps to whomever would give them money, mostly the empire.
When they exited their ship, Rex was waiting for them in the entrance of what looked to be an old republic star cruiser, similar to the one they went to last time.
"Hi Rex!" Wrecker yelled, excited to see an old friend.
"Shush, keep it down. The scrappers will hear us and tell the empire we're here."
"Oh, sorry."
"Don't worry about it, just be careful."
"What does the route look like to get to the nearest medical bay?"
"Not far. This time we'll have to climb a little though. Not much, just a little. It'll lead us directly to the old medical bay of this star cruiser."
"We can try our best."
"So what's wrong?"
"It's the kid," Hunter said. "She said she has an inhibitor chip. I didn't want to say anything over the call.
"You guys don't know for sure if she has one?" Rex asked.
"Why do you think we're here, Rex?"
"Hunter, calm down," Echo said, interrupting them.
"It's okay, I understand. There might be a way to get there without climbing, if my memory serves me right. But we need to hurry, before any scrappers see us."
They entered the abandoned starship, immediately greeted by an awful smell, but that's how all the old star cruisers smelled. They followed Rex around the ship, which was practically one large maze, for what seemed like ages. When finally reached the medical facility, Echo managed to get the system running, and they were able to see what was wrong with Omega.
"It appears she does have an inhibitor chip," Tech revealed. "But it isn't the same as ours. It's making her more ill than dangerous, the opposite of what happened to us. This isn't a Kaminon chip. This is something new, something I've never seen before. We have to remove it right away, I don't know how much longer she can survive with this thing in her head. I'd say a day or two, tops. It's made of toxic medals. She was probably a test subject. Who knows what they're planning for these things. It also doubled as a tracking device."
"So Crosshair knows we're here?" Hunter asked.
"Yes, Crosshair knows we're here. But not just Crosshair. The entire empire knows we're here as well."
"So this is just one large elaborate trap?"
"I'm afraid so. But, even though our chances are looking bleak at the moment, we still need to get the inhibitor chip out of Omega's head, or else she'll die."
"Isn't the procedure dangerous?" Hunter asked, worriedly.
"Extremely."
"Could she die from the surgery itself?"
"Yes."
"Why is everyone so calm about this?"
"Hunter, I've successfully done this exact surgery three times before, and Echo successfully did it once, and we've never failed. She'll be fine, we promise," Tech reassured.
"You have nothing to worry about, Hunter."
"Here's the thing. If we take it out, she might survive. If we don't, she's going to die."
"Just be careful, Tech," Hunter said.
"Like Echo said, you have nothing to worry about. Now, I have to try to remember how to do this," Tech replied, leaving the room.
"That doesn't sound very convincing!" Hunter continued, also leaving the room, with Wrecker following Hunter shortly after.
"So you've gotten hurt a lot recently huh?" Rex asked Echo.
"What do you mean?"
"Your arm, your head, it's all bandaged up."
"Oh," Echo said. "That."
"What happened?"
"We were dealing with the pykes, they found us, and shot my arm. As for the head, let's just say Hunter and I got into an argument."
"What has gotten into Hunter anyhow?"
"He's become an alcoholic."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Hunter of all people?"
"What's so hard to understand about it?"
"He's always been the levelheaded one. I wouldn't expect it from him."
"We all have our highs and lows. Unfortunately, after what happened on Kamino and Wasskah, Hunter has just hit rock bottom, and I don't think he knows how to handle it."
"Wasskah?! What business did you guys have on Wasskah?!"
"You look exhausted," Echo said, ignoring his question. "You should get some rest."
"Yeah, I haven't slept in days," Rex replied, yawning. "Sorry for yelling."
"Echo," Tech said, coming from the room where Omega was. "We need to start the surgery."
"You should go. It was good to see you again, brother," Rex said. "Good luck."
"You aren't going to leave right away, are you?"
"I guess not. The empire found out I'm not dead. So I guess you can say I've been on the run lately."
"Echo," Tech said, but this time more harshly. "We have to start."
"Geez, sorry for catching up with an old friend," Echo said, going to the room. "Talk to you later Rex."
"See you later, Echo," Rex replied. He went to a nearby room and laid down on one of the old beds, and let his thoughts wander back to the days when he still knew what it was like to be happy. To a time before the world had broken his soul, to a time when most of the people he trusted were still alive, and for the first time in long while, he smiled.
•••
"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" Tech asked Hunter after the surgery was completed.
"Good news. Right now I just need some goddamn good news."
"We safely removed the inhibitor chip. That's what was making everything worse, so she'll be a little better from now on. At least there won't be any more headaches."
"That still doesn't explain why she was coughing up blood, but okay, what's the bad news?"
"We decided to look into what might be wrong and we learned that she," Tech tried to say, but hesitated.
"What?"
"She has lung cancer, Hunter."