#tech is alive

“No kidding!” Cy teased, patting the nearest box, and Omega gave him a good natured punch on the shoulder. “Hey!”

“Wait until I tell Echo you’re trying to poach his-“ But Omega cut herself off as Hera’s head popped into the hold with a worrying frown, Chopper on her heels, grumbling up a storm.

“Hey Hera!” Omega said cautiously, righting herself and giving Hera a friendly salute. Cy did the same. “Is… Something wrong?”

“It’s Chop,” She said in an undertone, cutting straight to the point. “He just came back from the edge of base with his communicator shot clean off.”

All the color drained from Omega’s face, and Cy let out a displeased grunt of his own. “Poor Chop!” Omega said sympathetically, glancing down at the agitated astromec. “Are you alright other than that?”

Bhr BHR! B B B B Baaaaaaah.

“Oh he’s fine. The imperial spy he found, not so much,” Hera said with an exasperated smirk. “It explains why our systems registered a small explosion nearby, the attacker had detonators and Chop took advantage,” She gestured at him with a hint of pride. “That’ll teach them to mess with my droid. But it’s not safe to stay. You both have your supplies, are you ready to move out?”

“Yes sir!” Omega piped up.

“I can be,” Cy said lazily.

“Good. Lyssa and Domri are just waiting my signal. We need them out first, their refugees need this more than our -“

Br BR! Br BR! BHRRRRRR!

“What is it Chop?”

Ba brbrbr BAA-

Chopper gestured back out the doorway towards Cy’s ship, the Cyclone 4, and for the briefest second Omega spotted a glimpse of a figure in black bolting from it before -

BOOM.

The force of the explosion sent them all reeling back! Omega hit the wall and tiny lights popped behind her eyes. Her ears rang, but she heard coughing, scoffing, offended Chopper noises and confused Gonk! Gonk!’s coming from the back of her ship.

She pulled herself upright with a white knuckle grip on the edge of the console and heard Cy let out a deeply disgruntled sound.

“Aaaagh! Not again!” He groaned.

Omega offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet. The Cyclone 4 had been reduced to slag.

“Karabast! They lived?!” Hera shouted. “Alright, new plan.”

Be bv br BHR?

“Too risky Chop, they’re already here. Omega, get us airborne, NOW.”

“On it,” Omega said, hopping into the pilots seat and firing up the controls. Her thrusters engaged, the ship lifted off, and Hera took charge.

“Chopper, remotely activate the Ghost’s top hatch!” Hera ordered. “Cy, with me, on my signal! Omega, bring us in low over the Ghost and give us ground cover to get her flying, we need to get Lyssa and Domri out of here before we make our own jumps! Is that clear!”

“Yes sir!” Omega called back, pushing the ship forward with a determined grimace and her heart racing. The Ghost wasn’t far but their saboteur could be anywhere, and even as she thought it more shots fired off towards two other rising Rebel ships.

“No!” Omega gasped as Lyssa’s stabilizer was hit. The ship shuttered dangerously in the air and began to plummet. Omega gritted her teeth.

“Draw their fire and stay on target!” Hera cried, and Omega nodded, gritting her teeth and swallowing hard. Hera was right. They needed the Ghost, it was a risky plan but she was accustomed to risky plans by now and Hera’s skills were needed now more than ever to help the others escape.

She banked sideways towards their attacker first, laid down some fire as ground cover, and juked away towards the Ghost again. In the distance Lyssa fought for control of the careening ship, Domri rose higher, but the infiltrator, whoever they were, changed targets, forcing Omega to twist and dodge to avoid a serious hit. Omega leveled out low to the ground and pulled up on the accelerator seconds before they passed over the Ghost.

“Now!” She heard Hera shout, and her three passengers dropped out the door onto the Ghost below. Omega looked back with her heart in her throat but they had made it. Hera vanished into the hatch and Cy gave Omega a quick salute before pulling it closed over them all. Omega let out a breath, but it wasn’t over. She pulled up again, cut the thrusters and made a perfect Tech Turn to round back on the shooter.

In the few seconds that move took, the rain of blasterfire had seemed to stop, but Omega realized with dread it was only because they were aiming for the Ghost!

Omega returned fire back in an instant, bringing her ship around for another pass and peppering the area the enemy was hiding in blue plasma. For a second the attacker, wherever they were, let up on their assault, but as Omegas ship sped past their barrage returned. She gasped as one shot just barely missed a sublight engine, and only because the Ghost just lifted off the ground in time to make it a miss!

Mayhem 5! Keep them pinned down! Hera’s voice crackled over the comm.

As if she even needed to be told, after that close call. She snarled as she threw the ship into a second Tech Turn to double back again and give this imperial scumbag some hell. “On it!”

The Ghost careened in a huge arc and unleashed its own fire power on the shooters hiding spot, and finally, the dark figure was flushed out, running with an obvious limp and suited in black. How they were even still moving Omega didn’t know, but she had them now. She accelerated forward again, took aim, fired-

But her enemy also fired, whipping towards her with inhuman speed and popping off a single shot that sank straight through her sublight engine!

A distress call from Lyssa blared from her console, Omega felt her own engine splutter and die, the figure vanished below, and her ship veered sideways. There was hardly any time to prepare to crash. Omega wrenched the steering, slamming at the controls and overriding several errors to force the ship to stay level for just a few seconds.

“Brace for impact Gonky!” She shouted back, and the ship crashed down, skidding and spinning across the dirt. Omega was thrown forward, letting out an involuntary cry that was lost on the sound of metallic screeching and rumbling dirt that pierced the air until they came to a stop.

She could smell smoke, systems warnings were blaring, but she took stock of herself and… She was okay. A little sore, but nothing broken or bleeding.

Mayhem 5! What’s your status?! Hera’s voice rang out from the sparking console, and even through distortion, Omega could hear the fear in her voice. She scrambled for the receiver.

“Specter 2, I’m… I’m fine,” She breathed, looking around with eyes wide. “Ships down. No major injuries!”

The viewport was thick with dust, but the ship had spun as it crashed so she sat facing the gouge marks in the soft earth, and something was moving up ahead. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and the adrenaline that was just coming down from the crash rocketed all over again.

Ruby 3 is unresponsive, Hera said frantically. Did you make your shot?

She peered with dread through the pane, but it wasn’t a trick. There wasn’t enough cover to stay hidden for long and soon she saw it again - That same lone, limping figure, one hand cradling their side, injured and blow up but still unrelenting in their pursuit as they ducked behind a small cluster of gnarled plants.

Something about their armor was horribly familiar.

Mayhem 5?

“No,” Omega said bitterly. “I didn’t, but I will.”

Taking them out from here would be best, but the gunnery was karked, jammed in a completely unusable position. She kept her eyes on the imperial’s cover as she drew the custom precision blaster Crosshair had finally deemed good enough for her after several modifications and patted down her belt to ensure Hunter’s old vibro-knife was still there.

I don’t like the sound of that-

Something moved, and if only for a second, Omega saw them clearly, and her heart leapt into her throat. That… That wasn’t just any Imperial, that was like seeing a ghost! She would never forget that helmet, that mask, those glowing aqua cybernetics.

It was him.

The soldier who had hunted her family a decade ago, who killed so many of Rex’s men, who nearly drowned Crosshair and later cut off his hand. The one who had blown up the Marauder and dragged her off to Tantiss, who she thought Hunter had finally killed during their escape.

But if that was really him… Then he was a clone, too.

“Get to Ruby 3. She needs you,” Omega pleaded in a tone that was determined as it was solemn, setting her blaster to stun. “This is personal.”

And it had almost been too close already. They never wanted to kill clones who were on the Empires side, but sometimes it was impossible to avoid. They couldn’t avoid it on Tantiss, but this was different. She was different. This was a one-on-one fight, it wasn’t impossible, and if she had a chance, she would take it. She was ready.

That still wouldn’t make it easy, based on her still very vivid memories of what the CX troopers were capable of. Omega took a deep breath to center herself… And an idea came into her head.

“Gonky,” Omega whispered, and got a feeble little goooonk in response. “Be ready for Plan 38, okay? I need a backup just in case. Prep the hold latch and unleash it on my signal.”

He reluctantly gonked in agreement, and Omega nodded back, moving carefully to slip out of the hold. He was nearby, she knew it. She watched for signs of him. If she could just stun him, if she could just get him back to Echo-

Only the barest flash of movement warned Omega to duck before a blaster bolt hit the wall above her! She sprung off it and charged, firing back blue rings at the clone, knowing full well how much more difficult it would be to take him down that way, but she could do it! She just had to hit him enough times, she just had to survive -

He took the bait and slammed into her full force, knocking her back, and she twisted to avoid getting slashed with a knife. Omega fired and missed. The clones hand swiped the blade again at her neck but she caught it on her vambrace and shoved him back, barely, trading and blocking blows in close quarters. Her gut twisted. He was skilled, but injured, which should make him easier to take down, but he was fighting with lethal force, and Omega… Omega couldn’t do that!

She couldn’t beat him that way, he was never going to stop, it was all she could do to keep herself in the fight with a person who would hurt himself to keep going, who would fight through so much pain. She tried to fall back, plan 38 would be better for them both, but the retreat left her vulnerable for a split second and he grabbed her arm. Omega gasped as he yanked her towards a tree and kneed her in the gut.

“They’ll come back for you, dead or alive,” He said, his voice toneless and modulated. “They don’t leave their own behind.”

Omega preferred the gut pain to those words. It hurt less. They couldn’t help what happened on Tantiss, she tried so hard to remind herself of that, but it still always tugged at her heart, knowing how many clones still died there before they made it out. But she couldn’t go there now. He lifted his blaster and she grabbed his arm, twisting it up so it fired into the trees, and he let out a sharp yelp of pain. She couldn’t pity him yet, though, not while he was fighting without mercy, not if she wanted to help him! He wouldn’t be left behind, not again! Omega took advantage of his weakness, jamming her own blaster directly against his chest plate and firing off one stunner, then two, but he threw himself back and head butted her clean in the nose before she could finish the job with a third.

Stars swarmed her vision again, she let out a small cry and tasted blood. The clone staggered backward and Omega stumbled sideways, fighting to keep her own consciousness.

But he was doing the same. Omega raised her blaster again but between the two of them he was quicker, and she was forced to dodge more fire, retreating towards the trap Gonky was ready to pull. She didn’t have to beat him out here. He was almost down already. She just had to get him on the ship.

One of the shots singed her leg as she ran but she didn’t dare stop, not even for the sharp pain that radiated up it almost right away. She’d fought through worse. Omega managed to leap into the hold off her good leg but collapsed in the entry, only feet from the cockpit.

“Karabast!” She swore, desperately starting to crawl forward.

Gonky gonked his concern from the back.

“Not yet!” Omega whimpered. “I have to get him to the-“

There was a clanging of metal on metal as heavy footfalls rang through the ship. Omega flipped herself around and tried to stand, but the clone in imperial black stood looming over her and cocked his blaster at her head.

“Running is futile,” He said in that same Imperial monotone.

“It’s worked before!” Omega tried to stall, pushing herself backwards with her one good leg. He had her trapped, he wasn’t in position yet, Gonky couldn’t spring the trap, but they were so close. Omega held her breath, heart racing, this wasn’t how she wanted to go out, she could help him…

But several seconds passed, and he wasn’t pulling the trigger.

The clone seemed frozen, his head cocked ever so slightly, not so much looking at her as past her at something else, as if transfixed. The end of his blaster dipped towards the floor in his distraction.

Omega narrowed her eyes, subtly aiming her own blaster at her hip without a sound, and fired two shots in rapid succession. The last shot did what the first three couldn’t. The clone collapsed on the ground.

Gonk gonk? Gooonk?

Omega let herself fall backwards on the ground, too. It was over… She had done it.

“No Gonky… We don’t need Plan 38 after all.”

Which was probably good. Wasting all those Varos flavored rations just to bury the clone really would be a shame. Omega’s leg was throbbing painfully, her head was still aching and her face splattered with blood, but she couldn’t wait too long to catch her breath either. After only a minute or so, she dragged herself upright again and crawled towards the clone.

“I’m sorry, vod,” She breathed, pulling his hands behind his back and encasing them in binders as gently as she could before heaving him upright. “I’ll get you some help, yeah? You probably never wanted this, and…”

But her words dropped off as she gingerly removed his helmet and her world came to a screeching halt.

This wasn’t a reg.

This wasn’t a reg but it WAS a clone. She had screamed his name, lunged forward in desperation as he shot the cable that connected them, plummeting into the clouds below as their rail car caught the track and ripped them away and it all went dark-

“TECH???!!” Omega shrieked, the name torn from her chest in agony like the day they had lost him, reverberating against the walls of the ship so she heard it a hundred more times as she cupped his face and stared in disbelief. He was older now, like the others, his auburn hair cut short and speckled with shades of gray. Wrinkles lined his cheeks and jaw and the outsides of his eyes, he had some nasty new scars, but it was him, undoubtedly him.

In that moment, it didn’t matter if he was dangerous, it didn’t matter what he had done, what kind of conditioning the Empire must have put him through over all this time, or that he had just tried to kill her. Omega threw her arms around his shoulders and broke down into his neck with bloody, hiccuping, ugly sobs, carding her fingers into the back of his close-shaven hair.

All this time. All those battles a decade ago, everything that happened since then. How could they not have known? How come they never looked?

Guilt tore open her chest worse than his knife would have. He had been trapped like this, while the rest of them retired on Pabu, while Omega grew up surrounded by sunshine and laughter and beaches and family… And somehow, all this time later, he had hesitated to make the kill. Something had stopped him long enough for her to get the final shot.

She did her best to still herself, just for a few seconds, blinking away her tears to follow his gaze from a few minutes before…

To where his own cracked and broken goggles sat prominently on top of the cockpit console.

Omega’s ragged cries started all over again. Tech was alive, he was still in there, he had to be.

And he was coming home.

ITS KRIFFING POSSIBLE DAMMIT I DIDN’T EVEN BREAK CANON NOW FIX IT IN CANON OR SO HELP ME!!!!!! ❤️‍🩹

-ahem- Anyways. I’m mostly on AO3 so, links to all chapters below. Please scream in my comments and shit, it is pure writing fuel to get those ❤️

Chapter 1: Existing Isn’t Living (But It’s Better Than Being Dead… Right?)

Chapter 2: Serving Purpose (This Might Be Banthashit)