#like with

I love when someone has mourned and moved on from their missing loved one, only for them to show up again ripping that wound open again. I love when someone tries desperately to get back home, only to find that their home has scarred over the place they used to belong. When one person refuses to believe the other is dead and somehow manages to follow them into metaphorical hell.

I love when characters miss each other but can't enjoy the reunion because of what the reunion represents, be it the safety of their loved one, the world, or their own happiness.

Like when someone is lost in another world, with their only solace being their loved one is safe at home and then they're NOT.

I love when a loved one just suddenly changes into someone else because they left and returned without them even knowing.

I love when when a protective older sibling gets lost, and all the sudden their younger sibling has grown up without them and doesn't need them anymore when they reunite. When the younger sibling has grown up and the older sibling who used to look after them is now a traumatized child they need to raise in a world that moved on without them.

I love when a new environment gives someone access to resources or opportunities they didn't have before. Allowing them to be someone that they, and their loved ones, never imagined they could be.

I love when pairs of characters are forced to redefine themselves as individuals. And then they reunite and have to redefine their relationship with each other all over again after everything about themselves has already been mixed up.

From the beginning of the show, Tech had the reputation of being unemotional. You could see the emotions of the others very clearly on their faces in iconic scenes and many storylines. Omega was often scared and curious in season one, Hunter protective of his squad, very visible in the earlier s1 episodes. Wrecker showed a range, from childlike giddy to the guilt of Bracca. Echo and Crosshair were both very angry in season two, though for different reasons. But Tech...

Tech could often be hard to read. That's just how he was written. He spouted off facts, gave statistics, and flew the ship. Tech didn't portray the emotional depth his brothers and sister did. He was by no means unfeeling, but he was less espressive of his emotions, and his character was mostly mechanical, posing an interesting comparison to droids, specifically TAY-0 in episode 2x04, "Faster" (but that's an analysis for another time). This was consistant until episode nine of season two when he had that heart-to-heart with Omega. She started to get to see a side of him that we'd never seen before, and that was slowly developed throughout the remainder of season two (especially in regards to his feelings toward Phee and push to go find Crosshair) until it all culminated in Plan 99.

He made the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate show of love to protect his siblings and give them a fighting chance of survival, a fighting chance of finding Crosshair, and living a happy life, even without him.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a firm believer that Tech lived, but it was the only option with the character arcs going where they were. The boys' instincts are protection, and that comes in different ways, shows itself in different forms. Tech's meant giving his own life for the lives of others. The squad just wouldn't have worked if they lost anyone else. It would not have had that same effect.

An act of love and emotion coming from a usually stoic and non-expressive character in the emotions department. Plan 99 wouldn't have worked with anyone else, it would've been pointless. It had to be Tech.