THIRD PERSON POV
Finally...Fern faded into a deep sleep, her body tucked into a fetal position up in the gunner's mount. She'd wrapped her bomber jacket around her right arm and pressed her temple into the crook. The stringed lights glowed orange and yellow, cascading a warm setting upon the distressed clone. It also highlighted her tear-stained cheeks... Hunter feared if he reached over and attempted to clean her face, she'd wake up.
After draping a thin blanket over her, he stepped down the few ladder rungs and silently walked away. He trudged his way through each cabin of the Marauder, the ship that had been not only their mode of transportation during and after the Clone Wars, but their residence by default before they arrived on Pabu.
And yet...the sergeant did not recognize it. He felt like a stranger in this ship. He could not recall how to operate the computer system, nor where each of their supplies and belongings were stored. There were brief blips in which he did not know how to pilot—not in general, just this one. There was only one memory that lingered on everything his intense, dark eyes gazed upon...
Tech's gone...and yet, he's everywhere...
And Omega...her carefree spirit that once filled the entire ship had diminished...
"I once told her we can't save everyone..." Fern had sighed as she had climbed sluggishly up into the gunner's mount. "I never imagined...I'd be referring to our own..."
As he'd watch her situate herself on her side, grasping and cradling Omega's Lula doll to her chest, Hunter's eyes creased in pain. As much as he wanted to comfort her, at this point it seemed redundant...not to mention the sentiment was blinded by the fact she'd kept such an unthinkable and incomprehendible secret for months...
Safa Toma. He deduced that was when Athena revealed herself to Fern, for afterwards, that was when the nightmares began. Where all Fern's anxiety boiled up from and has been simmering inside her ever since. There had been recurring spikes—particularly the time Cid had contacted them after escaping Ipsidon and spoke to Fern privately... By the Force, did that mean Cid already knew about Athena Quinn?...
Fern really did trust their former employer more than he bargained for... All that persistence to cut ties, and yet, she still confided to the Trandoshan over him.
Hunter did not know whether to feel offended, angry, or hurt.
He joined Echo and Wrecker in the darkened cockpit and seated himself across the former in the co-pilot's chair. The splendor of hyperspace flooded through the viewport.
"Is she asleep?"
"Yeah, Wrecker," the sergeant nodded. "hopefully she'll stay that way for at least a few hours...but knowing her, she is contemplating a lot in her mind right now. All that has happened...and what is to come."
"If Life can remove someone you never dreamed of losing," Echo murmured, his eyes fixated on the console. "it can replace them with someone you never dreamt of having."
"Why do you think Fern never told us?" Wrecker inquired in a serious tone.
"Whatever her reason was, it was to protect us." Hunter sighed.
"Or," Echo grimaced. "she didn't trust us we could handle it."
"I don't know," Wrecker frowned. "we did have a lot going on. I think Hunter is right."
"All this time," The sergeant shook his head, propping up his elbow on his knee and resting his chin in his cupped palm. "I never pushed her to tell me. But I could have never predicted this..."
"And she still hasn't told us anything." Echo crossed his arms.
Sensing the animosity in his words, Hunter narrowed his eyes. He then looked to his left at Wrecker, who also seemed to detect the bitterness in his tone. The muscular clone then rose to his feet—he didn't even bother giving an excuse to dismiss himself from the cockpit. Once he was gone, Echo slightly sunk into the pilot's chair.
"Do you think she'll ever forgive me?" he breathed, his saddened, sable eyes staring at his bionic hand.
"Echo, she does not blame—"
"You and I both know that's not true."
Hunter surrendered. It was difficult to defend Fern when she did, in fact, obtrusively condemn Echo multiple times... He placed a firm hand on the cyborg clone's shoulder; his jaw clenched as he focused his energy in trying to comfort his brother. "You know Fern. She is just—she thinks—sigh—Let's just be thankful she is getting some rest... I know we all are going to need it for whomever we are about to meet on Coruscant..."
Echo inhaled and exhaled deeply, nodding slowly. He then swallowed the lump forming in his throat before clearing it. "You're right. You and Wrecker go ahead. I'll keep the first watch."
Hunter parted his lips to object, knowing how mentally exhausted Echo was, but that also seemed to be why he offered. The sergeant squeezed his shoulder before nodding with a one last sigh.
Once Echo was alone, he adjusted himself into his chair so he'd be more relaxed. Nonetheless, his frown deepened; his bottom lip quivered. His bionic hand earnestly massaged the human flesh of his palm. Fern is right. It is my fault...For Crosshair... Tech...and Omega...Maybe I should have never come back. Or maybe I never should have left...
Back in the main cabin, Hunter found Wrecker hunkered down in the seat in front of the illuminated computer display, the blue hue filled the dark room and reflected in the latter's solemn eyes. In his large hands, he cradled Tech's shattered spectacles. It pained the sergeant to see how long Wrecker continued to hold onto the only remnants of...
"It's not your fault." he said softly, crossing his arms.
"Yeah," Wrecker sighed, followed by a light scoff. "I know."
"Wrecker, it's not your fault."
The clone lifted his head with his eyes creased in slight confusion. "I heard ya, Hunter. I know."
"Wrecker," The leader placed a hand on his shoulder, just like he'd done with Echo. Gripping it tightly, he forced a small simper and said, "it's not your fault," calmly enuciating every syllable.
"Sarge, you're freaking me out." Hunter's intense eyes focused, causing him to squirm in his seat.
"It's not your fault, Wrecker."
Hearing those words for the fourth time, his bottom lip began to quiver. His fingers lightly squeezed Tech's goggles. His eyes shimmered.
"You don't have to k-keep telling me, y-you know? I was there, too."
"And, it's not your fault."
Wrecker was beginning to grow frustrated with the sergeant. His brow furrowed and his jaw clenched while his eyes averted towards the floor. "I...kn—"
And then...his vision flashed back to Eriadu. He felt his arms suspending the deteriorating tram car with their full might, while his boots teetered at the edge. He saw Tech dangling nearly twenty yards below him, and he heard him shouting and demanding to let him go...
"Plan 99."
"When have we ever followed orders?"
Pow! Chink!
Wrecker relived, for what must've been the thousandth time, the weight of the rail car proving to be too great, slipping from his grasp. Crumbling to his knees and uselessly extending his arm, he screamed in agony.
"NOOOOoooo!..."
Wrecker jerked his head to the side; a sharp pain in his braced neck caused him to wince. His eyes squeezed shut, mentally exerting himself to block it all out... But to no avail, he stiffled a series of soft sobs, his hunched shoulders bobbed with each one. One hand lifted and shielded his eyes as his chin hung. His other nearly allowed the spectacles to slip from his loosened fingers, but Hunter reached down and caught them. He placed them on the console and continued to watch over his brother. Wrecker wiped his eyes clean, but more tears just replaced the others.
"H-Hunter—"
"No, it's not your fault."
Echo, in the cockpit, overheard Hunter's repetition, and even though the sergeant was facing Wrecker, he sensed the words were meant for him, as well...
"It's not...your fault."
Silent tears rolled down his protruding cheekbones as he leaned his head back. Then, who's to blame? Saw Gerrara? That's too negligible considering Gerrara would have been there on Eriadu whether we were or not...
Maybe the most tragic of all...is that there is no retribution...
"We-have lost—any way of locating Crosshair. We lost Tech, and then we lost Omega...in the matter of hours!" Fern's rebuke only screamed this truth...
She and Hunter had wanted to go back to Pabu when the mission was over, but they also never wanted to leave because they argued the mission to rescue Crosshair was too risky...so Tech's sacrifice had not change that direction of perspective. Wrecker and Echo were still very much on the same trajectory, as well. His death has progressed nothing forward, changed nothing except made life now harder for the defective clones, and doesn't motivate any of them in a direction they weren't already heading in...or want to head towards...
What truly altered their course, for the absolute worse, was Omega's capture...one in a downward spiral in which none of them knew if they'd ever recover, even if they did manage to find and rescue her...
"Dank ferrik, punch a wall or something!"
Hunter wanted to, more than Fern would comprehend. He wanted to do so much more...
Whose fault was it? Must they really revert their blame on the Galatic Empire?... All three men were contemplating it. And none of them had answers...
There were no wrong answers.
Nor right answers.
His eyes floating up to Fern restlessly sleeping in the rear of the ship, Hunter finally grasped the concept on why clones never experienced civilian life. It was because it was so much harder to tap into the soldier mentality once one had tasted its irresistible richness...
No one really wanted to tap into their military training, and 'keep moving forward', but it seemed to be the only logical solution...
There was one fundamental truth that they all had in mind, though.
Whoever they were about to meet on Coruscant, would require all the strength they could muster, and they could not afford to be distracted of what has happened. It was no one's fault. Keep moving forward. We are about to meet our greatest challenge yet. We must be prepared for anything.
Omega is our priority.
Focus. Access. Act.
Clone Force 99 is still here.
And we are still strong.