Chapter Text
The sun was setting on Teth when they arrived at a dilapidated, cylindrical temple sitting on a high plateau. Rex was waiting for them, and so was another clone Hunter recognized. Captain Howzer. When the ramp lowered and everyone aside from Echo exited ship, Howzer was already scowling at them.
“They don’t look happy to see us,” Wrecker said. Then he laughed. “Just like old times, huh?”
Rex seemed more concerned than hostile, but either way, unhappy was an apt term.
“Thanks for coming,” Rex said when he met them on the rocky landing strip. He eyed Batcher curiously and took an extra moment to nod and smile at Omega, who trailed in the back. She hadn’t spoken for the remainder of the trip here. Even when Hunter asked if she was hungry or needed anything just before they arrived, she ignored him. The silent treatment was a new tactic. He couldn’t say he was a fan.
“Good to see you Rex,” Hunter said.
“Wish I felt the same,” Howzer snapped. “I have unfinished business with this one.” He glared daggers at Crosshair. “Remember me?”
Crosshair may have appeared stoic to most observers, but Hunter could read the apprehension in the way his eyebrow twitched.
“Surprised I’m alive?” Howzer said. “Most of my squad from Ryloth is dead because of you.”
Rex put a hand on his shoulder. “Easy, Howzer. I know you two have a history, but we’re all on the same side now.” Echo must have sent him a report after debriefing Crosshair and Omega. Howzer huffed and kept his glare in place.
“Why’d you call us here, Captain?” Hunter asked.
“We have something to show you. Follow me.”
Hunter and Crosshair exchanged a look as Rex turned and headed to the base. That wasn’t ominous at all. Hunter was about to follow when he heard Echo call, “Omega!” from the ship.
He looked back and saw Echo holding the energy crossbow. Omega ran over to him. Hunter was going to wait and watch her receive the special gift from her uncle, but Wrecker said, “Go ahead and see what Rex wants. I’ll wait.”
Right. Because his daughter was mad at him and probably didn’t even want him to wait for her. He sighed. He trailed after Rex, Howzer, and Crosshair, leaving Batcher with Wrecker. He hoped Omega forgave him soon or at least decided to speak to him again. He already missed the sound of her voice.
They followed Rex into the ground level of the spire. When Hunter got inside, he saw that whatever was originally here had been gutted and it was now outfitted with consoles, scanners, a holotable, and various other pieces of technology. There were crates of supplies stacked neatly against the walls. At least a dozen clones milled about in the central hub of the wide, circular room. He had a feeling there were at least twice that many throughout the base. He had noticed a few patrolling the ships docked on the landing field.
“Your numbers are growing,” he said to Rex.
“Well, we need all the help we can get. Once we find the exact coordinates of the Tantiss Base, we need to hit it hard if we’re going to pull our brothers out of there. I have questions about the facility, but that’s not the only reason I called you here.” He held up a small, round disc. “We discovered a target list from an Imperial operative.” He tossed it to Hunter. “And Omega’s on it.”
Hunter tapped a button on the disc to activate the preloaded holo image. A younger version of Omega appeared above his hand. It was how she looked when she was captured except she was dressed in a gray uniform. She had a despondent look on her face. He wondered when the image was taken. It made him feel sick to his stomach. “She was on a target list?”
“Not a surprise,” Crosshair said. He was going for casual, popping a toothpick into his mouth, but Hunter wasn’t fooled. “She escaped Imperial custody.”
Hunter wanted to believe that was the only reason. He doubted it was that simple.
“So did you,” Howzer pointed out. “But you’re on the list.”
“Guess I’m not as valuable to them.”
“Or you’re feeding them information.”
Deactivating the image, Hunter took a step forward. “You’re going to have to back down, Captain.” He may have had his own suspicions about Crosshair too at first, but now that he understood more of what happened to him, he wasn’t going to stand there any let someone slander his brother.
“You expect us to believe he was held on Tantiss for months, but he doesn’t know how to get back there?”
“Whether you believe me or not, it’s the truth,” Crosshair said. He and Howzer now stood a mere foot apart with matching scowls. Crosshair leaned back. “But I’m not loyal to the Empire any longer.”
Howzer grunted. “Your squad may trust you, but I don’t.”
The door they’d come through slid open and Omega, Wrecker, and Batcher walked in. Omega held her new crossbow with both hands, smiling down at it. She looked up and must have picked up on the tension in the room by the number of frowns decorating everyone’s faces.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“The Empire’s targeting you again,” Crosshair said bluntly. Hunter tried to covertly shake his head at him. He may have always favored a straightforward approach with his squad, but he needed to learn to be gentler with Omega. It was something Tech had had to learn too. She especially didn’t need the extra stress right now when she was grappling with the truth about who she was.
Wrecker chuckled, probably noting the way Omega’s eyebrows pinched together and trying to lighten her mood. “No surprise there.”
“Why were they after you before?” Rex asked her.
Her gaze dropped to the dirty floor. “To force Nala Se to cooperate and conduct certain experiments.”
“Which were what?”
That was a question Hunter never thought to ask. It hardly mattered to him what Hemlock was forcing Nala Se to do or what the Empire’s greater goals were. He only cared what had been done to his kid throughout the process. While every hint of abuse she’d suffered was outraging, after hearing her retelling back on Pabu he was relieved to find that it was not quite as bad as he’d been imagining. She was imprisoned, isolated, used as manipulation, had her blood taken against her will, and was physically struck at least once. All of that was horrible, but in those dark days when their fruitless search for her grew increasingly desperate, his mind conjured up all methods of torture that might be done to his daughter. He thought he might get her back only after irreparable damage had been done to her body. Or that he might not get her back at all.
“She was working on something involving M-count,” Omega said. “I don’t know what that means, but they were taking blood samples from everyone, even me.”
“M-count?” The concerned expression Rex had been wearing since they landed deepened. It made Hunter’s blood pressure tick up a notch.
“You know what that is?” he asked.
“Well, I’ve heard it mentioned before. But I can’t say for sure.” Rex went down to one knee in front of Omega so that he was on her eye level. Hunter could tell he was doing his best to smooth out the worry lines on his face. “What else can you tell us? Any information you have about Tantiss and what they’re doing there will help us figure out how to recover our brothers.”
Omega bit her lip. It hadn’t been long since she’d relived her experience by answering Echo’s questions. Now here she was being asked to do it again while she was already reeling from learning she wasn’t a clone. Hunter moved beside her. He would have put a hand on her back if he was sure she wouldn’t shrug him off. “Does she have to do this right now, Rex? It’s not really the best time—”
“It’s okay,” Omega interrupted. She took a deep breath. Raising her head high, she launched into her story. She retold much of what she did before about her daily duties with Nala Se and Emerie. She left out the story of Hemlock pushing her into a console and her resulting injury. But she included a detail this time that she hadn’t mentioned before. “Every day, after I brought the blood samples to Nala Se, she would take mine off of the tray and destroy it before it could be tested with the others. She never explained why. It wasn’t until the day the Emperor came to Tantiss that she told me I’d be in danger if they tested my sample.”
“The Emperor?” Hunter repeated. He turned to Crosshair. “You failed to mention that.”
“It’s not like we encountered him,” Crosshair said.
Omega went on, “That’s when she gave me her datapad and told me to escape.” She recounted she and Crosshair’s escape through the kennels, trek through the jungle, and stealing one of the ships that came after them to get away. “There wasn’t enough time to free the other clones,” she finished. “We have to find a way to get them out.”
Rex patted her shoulder. “We will. Thank you, Omega.”
She hung her head. Hunter could practically feel the cloud of gloom hanging around her. He ached to pull her into his arms, if only she would let him. He swore that would be the last time she would be made to talk about Tantiss unless she brought it up first.
The door opened again and a clone came in carrying a tray in one hand and a big bowl in the other. “Chow time!” he cried with a smile. “Greggor’s recipe, with a few of my own spicy modifications.”
Wrecker perked up. “Oh, now you’re talkin’!” He automatically followed the food as it was taken across the room to a table. Batcher did too, her nose upturned and drool slithering down her jaw.
Hunter risked touching Omega’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go eat something? We’ve got it handled from here. You did good.”
Her posture didn’t change. She slinked off after Wrecker, her eyes downcast. Hunter sighed as Rex stood up. Surely that was all the captain needed. They’d been alerted that Omega was an Imperial target and she’d shared what she knew about Tantiss. As soon as Echo returned, they could get out of here and go back to the safety of Pabu.
“Wait,” Crosshair said just as Howzer and Rex took a step toward the food. “There’s more you should know. Not all of the clones on Tantiss are prisoners. Some are loyal to the Empire. There is a division of clones trained as specialized operatives and initiated into a secret deep cover program run by Hemlock. Their identities are erased. They undergo conditioning. The few that make it through come out…different.”
“If the program’s so secretive, how do you know about it?” Howzer asked suspiciously.
“Because they tried to make me into one of them.”
“What?” Hunter said. Yet another thing he’d failed to mention. Even if Crosshair was slowly regaining trust with his brothers, he had said precious little about his time on Tantiss. Hunter assumed that it was difficult to talk about and was trying to respect that, but this seemed like something that should have been shared. “What did they do to you?”
“They have…methods of attempting to alter brain chemistry. It didn’t work on me. Being defective is in my nature.”
Hunter thought about the dead clone Rex had shown them on Coruscant who had tried to assassinate Senator Chuchi. The man had a clone face and standard haircut, but no other distinctive markings. He was like a carbon copy, more generic than a shiny. “You’ve encountered one before,” he said to Rex. “The assassin on Coruscant.”
“We’ve known they existed,” Rex said, “but never knew exactly what they were.” He and Howzer looked at one another knowingly, and Hunter didn’t like the unease he read there.
“What aren’t you telling us?”
“We captured one,” Rex admitted. “We tried questioning him, but he hasn’t been very cooperative.”
Crosshair was suddenly very alert. His body went rigid. “You have one here? Alive?” Rex nodded. “Impossible. The Empire would be on top of us already. They have ways of tracking their operatives.”
“We scanned him,” Howzer said. “He’s clear.”
Crosshair crushed his toothpick in his fist. “It’s not the kind of tracker your scans would pick up. Hemlock’s smarter than that!”
Hunter put a hand on his chestplate, hoping to calm him. The level of fear in his eyes was disconcerting. “Where is the operative?” he said. “Show us.”
* * * * *
Every nerve in Crosshair’s body was on high alert. They didn’t understand. They didn’t know. The clones who had been conditioned by Hemlock we’re human anymore. They were flesh droids. Their brains had been shocked to the point that they no longer functioned independently of orders. They’d do anything they were told to, even kill themselves and each other. Crosshair knew. The doctors had tried to override his will, tried to crush him, erase him. They almost succeeded. They might have if he didn’t have Omega to get him through it. He knew she needed him, and it kept him fighting.
He glanced over at the table on the other side of the room as Rex led them around the central console. Wrecker was eating with his regular gusto, but Omega despondently stirred the contents of her bowl with her spoon. She got up and put her bowl on the ground for Batcher to eat instead. Crosshair knew they shouldn’t have brought her here. Rex didn’t know what he was asking, making her talk about Tantiss. Crosshair should have spoken up sooner. He should have spared her that.
Except, he didn’t know about her blood samples being destroyed. Somehow, throughout all their time together as captives, she never told him that. It had to be significant, and it made anxiety swirl in his gut. He had always known it was a bad sign that Nala Se told Omega to escape on the same day the Emperor visited.
Rex took them to a storage closet in one wall that was evidently serving as a holding cell. Crosshair was the last to file into the small space behind the others. As soon as he saw the black-armored clone with his hands clamped behind his back, he stopped in his tracks.
He recognized this man. He wasn’t sure how he knew. They made all the regs they conditioned look exactly the same. But this was one of the clones that was led to the chamber alongside Crosshair and tortured everyday. This was one that eventually forgot his name when asked. Maybe it was something about the set of his eyes. During a brief break in the electric shocks to his brain one day, Crosshair turned his head to the side and saw this clone get out of his pod. He answered the doctor’s questions. She told the hovering medical droid to implant a biotracker in him. As the droid stuck him in the neck with a needle, the man looked over at Crosshair. It was the same pair of eyes boring into him now.
Crosshair took a step back. If this clone had been compromised, it would not be long before another operative arrived to neutralize him. They would stop at nothing, eliminate anyone in their path to accomplish that goal. That was how the Empire operated. That was how they kept their secrets. And Omega was here. They could have unwittingly put her in the most dangerous position possible. “We have to leave. Now.”
“You want answers so badly, why aren’t you asking him?” the operative said in a low voice. “Right, brother?”
Howzer turned his ever-accusing face to Crosshair, his hand resting on his blaster.
“He’s lying,” Crosshair said through a dry mouth. Even if they were all clones, he’d never considered anyone but his squad his brothers.
“You were right about one thing,” the unnamed clone said. “They are coming. For all of you.”
The whole base shook. Every soldier in the room snapped to attention. They recognized the sound of an explosion when they heard it. It came from somewhere outside.
Rex shoved his helmet on his head and tapped the side. “Comms are down.”
The operative started laughing, disturbing and unhinged.
“Crosshair’s right,” Rex said. “We need to move out. Now!”
Howzer opened the door. At that very instant, as though it had been waiting, a bolt from a sniper rifle flew between them. They instinctively pressed against the walls of the closet. Smoke reached Crosshair’s nostrils. The operative now had a perfect, burning hole in his chest where his heart used to be.
“We got a shooter out here!” Wrecker shouted.
The clones rushed out of the closet and dove behind storage crates for cover. Wrecker had Omega stuffed behind another set. He put a big hand on her head to be sure she stayed down, then stood up and began a barrage of rapid fire into the spot where the sniper shot originated from. The few other clones that were in the room joined in.
Crosshair snapped the two pieces of his rifle together. This was the last situation he wanted Omega to be in. He knew it, he knew it. He should have insisted she go with Echo. She may have been subjected to a firefight when they were escaping Tantiss, but they had little choice in that. This time it was preventable. And that perfectly timed, perfectly aimed sniper shot… A clone didn’t have to be enhanced to be a good sniper, but Crosshair couldn’t help thinking about those four enhanced clones Hemlock had shown him. The ones that may never have had free will to begin with. If one of them was here… Cold sweat slid down his back.
Crouching and putting on his helmet, he looked through his rifle’s scope. Their target was also taking shelter. He couldn’t get a clear shot.
“Nemec,” Rex said, “we need to get comms online so we can initiate the evacuation plan.”
A clone with wavy green lines painted on his helmet nodded. He crept forward as the rest of them traded bolts with the elusive shooter. Nemec made it to the main console, kneeling behind it and reaching only his hand up to tap at the controls.
“What do we do?” Crosshair heard Omega say from her hiding spot.
Just then, their attacker made a strategic move. He shot the fuse box of the main console in another perfect hit. It caused a small explosion that knocked Nemec back and started a fire.
“Backup plan,” Rex said. He motioned to a side door with his blaster. “Into the command post. I’ll cover you. …Go!”
Rex stood up, making himself the target as he fired with both of his blasters. Everyone else ran for the door he’d indicated. Wrecker made Omega go first so that he could put himself behind her. They had all just made it inside, even Nemec, who was limping, when Rex dove in after them.
An explosion rocked the temple. Something much larger than a fuse box had blown in the main room. As soon as the first small chunks of stone rained down from the ceiling, Crosshair lunged for Omega. He wasn’t alone. Hunter got there first, pulling her down and covering her with his body. Crosshair added himself to the pile. A rock hit his back. Dust clouded his vision through his helmet’s visor. The small room rapidly grew dark as rubble cascaded in front of the open door. Wrecker shouted as he intercepted a chunk of ceiling that was heading for Batcher.
When the shaking and tumbling of rocks stopped, all went eerily quiet for a few seconds. Then more than one clone groaned. Crosshair and Hunter sat up. Dust hung in the air like a haze. Omega coughed as she sat up too, thankfully unharmed. Hunter clicked on his flashlight. Part of the temple had caved in out in the main room, forming a wall of debris between them and their attacker. But that also meant they were trapped in here.
Omega helped Rex up.
“Thanks,” he said, rolling his shoulders. He looked around, possibly counting who was here. Only two of his men, Howzer and Nemec, had made it. There could be more left alive elsewhere in the base, but Crosshair had a feeling that sniper had been doing his job efficiently.
“We need to get moving before their reinforcements get here,” Rex said.
“Is there another way off this spire?” Hunter asked.
“There’s always another way.” Rex shoved a crate aside with his foot, revealing a rough hole in the floor. A ladder was attached to one side of a vertical tunnel that presumably led down into the rock formation this temple was built on. He and his two men climbed down first.
Hunter leaned in toward Crosshair and muttered, “Put her in the middle.” Then he went down the ladder. Crosshair nudged Omega to go next. Once she was on her way, he followed. It was up to Wrecker to wrap one arm around Batcher’s squirming, whimpering frame and climb down one-handed.
Before long, they came out on a surprisingly well-maintained landing. It was carpeted and had a window carved in one wall. There were stairs on either side of the flat space where they stood. Omega went to peer through the window. Crosshair leaned over her to look too. It revealed a long column that traveled deep into the heart of the spire. Other windows appeared at measured intervals in the walls as the stairs wound ever downward. Even his eyes couldn’t see the bottom through the dark.
“Our leech vessel’s docked about ten levels down,” Rex said.
“Doesn’t have a hyperdrive, though,” Howzer pointed out. “We won’t get far.”
“No, but we can use it to contact Echo.”
Rex led the way down the twisting stairs, jogging with his flashlight up. Crosshair counted the number of windows they passed. He noticed there were three per level. They’d gone down at least nine floors, curving around and around, when Rex said, “Our ship’s docked just down this corridor.”
Hunter suddenly stopped, his spine going rigid. Crosshair knew what that meant. He listened, but couldn’t hear anything over the clamor of their boots.
“Stop,” he said. Everyone slowed to a halt.
“What is it?” Nemec asked.
Crosshair went to the nearest window. Down below them he saw the beam of a flashlight travel across a window a few levels down. In the quiet, he could hear the thunder of many footsteps. “The reinforcements are here. They’re coming.”
Dust trickled down from above. Crosshair looked up in just enough time to see a black-armored clone operative hanging in the middle of the rock cylinder by a grappling line. His sniper rifle was attached to his back. He held up his sidearm, and Crosshair fell back just before a shot whizzed by him. It scorched a hole in the carpet by his feet. He couldn’t be sure if this was the enhanced sniper. All the operatives’ armor was identical. Maybe he was just a good shot.
With the back to the wall, Crosshair raised his rifle. “I’ll handle this.”
Rex nodded. Most of the others kept going, but Omega hesitated. She watched Crosshair with an uncertain expression. She opened her mouth as though she wanted to protest. Hunter took her hand. “He’ll be fine,” he said as he pulled her along.
Once they were out of sight, Crosshair whipped back into the window. His target was limited in the amount of evasive maneuvers he could make in his precarious position on the grappling line. It should have been an easy shot. But just as Crosshair pulled the trigger, his right hand trembled. The bolt went to the left. He took cover once more as the operative returned fire. He shook out his hand. Fine. There was more than one way to do this. He pulled an adhesive detonator attachment from his belt and snapped it onto the barrel of his rifle. In one fluid movement, he spun, took the shot through the window, and ducked again. It didn’t have to be precise. Anything close enough would do.
It only took two seconds for the charge to go off. The boom echoed around the rock walls. Crosshair peered out the window. The operative’s line had been severed in the blast, but he caught himself on a window ledge several levels down. Crosshair fired off three rapid shots as the man scrambled up through the window. Each shot missed. Crosshair groaned as the operative disappeared. Maybe he had at least slowed him down enough that they could escape. He sprinted the rest of the way down the stairs until he found the door the others must have gone through.
Wrecker was waiting for him in a narrow hall.
“We need to go,” Crosshair said as he jogged past him.
“We’re waitin’ on you.”
They were the last to climb into the little leech vessel. It wasn’t designed for seven people and a big hound. Aside from the pilot’s chair, where Rex was starting up the ship, there were three crash chairs against the sides. Hunter put Omega in one of them. Nemec sat on the floor just behind Rex and removed his helmet. Batcher, apparently not reading the tension of the situation, put her paws on his shoulders and took to licking his face.
He leaned away from her. “Get down! Off!”
“Don’t worry,” Omega said. “She only bites half of the time.”
“Great.”
Howzer and Crosshair took the other seats. The trick now would be to avoid the Empire’s forces long enough to contact and wait for Echo. Rex steered the vessel out into the open. It had been hidden in a crevice in the side of the spire. A dark sky full of stars and two moons stretched out before them. Crosshair wished the weather had been cloudy to better cover their escape.
It was less than a minute before the ship rattled and alarms blared. Crosshair heard sputtering coming from the stern. Their engines had been hit. So much for not being noticed. They tipped forward. The viewport lost sight of the sky and instead filled up with the dark trees of the jungle down below them.
“ Remora -one,” Rex yelled into the comms, “we’ve been compromised. Heading to marker 025 for an extraction. Repeat, marker 025.” Above the alarms, he shouted over his shoulder, “We’re going down! Strap in.”
Hunter pulled the restraints over Omega’s head. Crosshair and Howzer secured their own, and everyone else went for handholds. Batcher slid forward as the ship careened downward. Her claws scraped against the floor.
“Somebody get Batcher!” Omega cried. “She’s not strapped in!”
Wrecker reached out and grabbed Batcher’s ankle. He pulled her to himself as best he could while holding himself in place.
It didn’t take them long to meet the ground. They crashed through trees, rattling and jolting. Crosshair’s helmet bounced between the padded sides of the restraints. The clones all had their armor to protect them, but he kept thinking about the leather cap Omega was wearing and how it couldn’t be adequate for something like this. The ship grated across the ground until it finally came to a jarring stop. A collective groan filled the small space.
Wrecker was the first to get to the back of the vessel and force the circular door open. In complete disregard for his help, Batcher jumped on his back and vaulted outside before anyone else could. Wrecker grunted as he crawled out on his hands and knees.
Hunter released Omega’s restraints. From the way she hurried out after Batcher, Crosshair guessed she was okay. Everyone else slowly made their way out on unsteady legs. Rex gathered up the supply packs from the ship. He handed one to each of them, including Omega.
The ship was in one piece, but parts of it were sparking and a few spots were even on fire. Smoke trailed from the rear thruster. It wasn’t going to be flying anywhere soon. They all took a moment to catch their breath.
Omega rubbed her hands down Batcher’s back and examined her paws as though checking for injuries. Crosshair came to stand next to her. He aimed his rifle into the trees. He didn’t see or hear anything threatening near to them, but he wanted to appear busy. He wasn’t sure if Omega was talking to him yet. Maybe she would if he made it seem nonchalant.
“You…good?”
“Uh-huh.”
Okay, progress. He would take two words over nothing. As she kept her attention on her pet, he continued, “Got your crossbow?”
“Yep.”
“Sure you can carry those supplies?”
At this point she turned around and frowned up at him. “Yes.”
Maybe he was pushing it, but he didn’t want to stop. Not only had she been put far too close to the clone operative that was probably here to abduct her, but now she’d been through a crash landing too. Maybe the fact that she wasn’t fazed was a testament to the situations Hunter subjected her to in the past, but that didn’t mean Crosshair had to like it. “Stay close,” he said. “It’s easy to get lost in this terrain.”
She wrinkled her nose. “You’re as bad as Hunter.”
“Oh, I’m much worse.” If she hadn’t realized that yet, she soon would. He noticed she was holding her crossbow with her left hand. “Keep your weapon in your right hand. That way you’ll be ready to fire without having to readjust.”
Omega rolled her eyes. “Ugh. Yes, Dad.”
The world stopped. A tingle ran straight up Crosshair’s spine and lit his chest on fire.
Omega’s eyes went wide as though just realizing what she’d said. She switched her crossbow to her right hand, looking down to fiddle with it needlessly. When she did, her cap slipped back half an inch, revealing the beginning of a discolored spot near her temple. A bruise.
“You hit your head,” he said.
Hunter’s head snapped toward them. “What?”
Omega pulled her cap back down. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine,” Crosshair said. “Give me your pack.”
She stepped back as Hunter came over to join them. “No, I can carry it.”
Hunter tried to reach out to her. “Omega, if you’re hurt—”
“I said I’m fine!”
She walked away, clicking her tongue for Batcher to follow her. Hunter and Crosshair shared a look through their helmets. Had Hunter been living with this kind of paternal anxiety for two years? Maybe he deserved more credit than Crosshair was giving him.
“Echo should meet us at the extraction point,” Rex said. “We’ll have to continue on foot.”
“How far?” Hunter asked.
“Five clicks north.”
Hunter looked up. A moment later, Crosshair heard it too. The rumble of ship engines. “We’ve got attack shuttles inbound,” Hunter said.
“This way.” Rex took off. True to their training, the clones shook off their aches and pains and continued with the mission. They ran between trees, through underbrush, and over roots, all with only moonlight to illuminate their path. Crosshair kept one eye on their surroundings and one on Omega. She kept up with them. If she was in any pain, she had shaken it off too.
A clone’s daughter.
They ran until the two ships peeled away in different directions. They must be concentrating on the crash site. Once it seemed clear the group had lost their pursuers, they slowed to a walk. Nemec was still limping.
They had covered at least a mile of ground when Howzer came up beside Crosshair.
“What?” Crosshair said, in no mood for further accusations.
“I’ve seen how you are with the kid,” he said unexpectedly.
Crosshair could feel his defenses rising. “Your point?”
Howzer paused. “Well…you’re different than you were on Ryloth. So, what changed?”
His tone was not like it had been up until this point. It was cautious, but not hostile. Crosshair had no intention of telling him about everything that had changed. Howzer probably didn’t know who Omega really was, and he didn’t need to. He didn’t need the details about Barton IV or Tantiss either. But Crosshair could share the basic concept if it would get this captain off his back. “Loyalty meant something to me. But with the Empire, it didn’t go both ways. I realized how disposable I was.”
Howzer hummed. “You’re not the only one.”
That was evidently enough for him because he fell back and offered Nemec a hand.
The hike was long. It never would have bothered Crosshair in the past; his squad used to thrive on feats of fitness and endurance. But he was still recovering from Tantiss. He’d moved more in the last few days than he probably should have. His leg muscles burned. His arms shook from carrying his rifle, and it had nothing to do with his hand. To top it off, he had hardly slept on the way to Teth, too nervous about the talk with Omega. He shoved his exhaustion aside, though. They weren’t in the clear yet. He’d stretched himself thinner than this plenty of times before.
Batcher traveled at the front of the line, sniffing the ground and periodically raising her head to small the air. The forest eventually came to a stop at a rock field. The rushing sound of running water filled the air, signifying that a river was nearby. Batcher stood still. She barked.
“I hear it too,” Hunter said.
“What?” Howzer asked. “The river?”
“Not the river.”
Just then, a shuttle roared just over their heads. How the Empire had found them, Crosshair wasn’t sure. The clones ducked between the boulders all around them. The ship hovered just over the rocky area. Its aft doors opened and clone troopers rappelled down on multiple lines.
“The extraction point is across the river,” Rex said quietly over their comms. “We have to knock through their line.”
“We’ve got these,” Omega whispered. She pulled two smoke bombs from her pack and handed them to Hunter. He in turn passed them to Wrecker, who could throw them the farthest. He chucked them out onto the field and at once they hissed and belted smoke into the air.
The soldiers crouched, waiting for Rex’s signal to move forward, when Hunter said, “Wait. We’ve got company.”
A second line of troopers appeared out of the forest at their backs, boxing them in. Fantastic. The new troopers opened fire with stun blasts.
“Move!” Rex said.
Crosshair’s group returned fire behind them as the ran into the mist, though they didn’t bother setting any of their weapons to stun. Crosshair positioned himself in front of Omega. “Stick by my side,” he told her, walking backwards as he fired. “And stay down.”
She got off a shot with her crossbow. It hit one of the troopers in the leg, which effectively took him out. Hm. Maybe she did know how to use it after all.
They stopped firing when they reached the bulk of the smoke. Crosshair took up a position behind a boulder, guiding Omega to crouch beside him. He made carefully aimed shots, about half of which struck true, while the others used their own talents to pick off the Empire’s soldiers. Wrecker knocked heads together, Hunter appeared seemingly out of nowhere and slit throats, Howzer tripped a man and Rex shot him. Even Batcher jumped on one. The field was clear by the time the smoke began to dissipate.
The shuttle still hung above them in the air. When Crosshair saw it turning so that its front cannons faced them, he aimed for the viewport. It was pure luck that his hand didn’t shake and his shot went straight through the glass and into the pilot’s chest. The shuttle listed to the side in the air. As it spun, Crosshair aimed for its engines. It took three shots, but he hit them, and the ship went careening off to crash further away in the jungle.
Rex kept his blasters up. “Let’s go.”
“How much farther to the landing zone?” Hunter asked.
“Just ahead. We’re almost there.”
They had almost reached the bank of the river when Crosshair felt the unmistakable tingle of eyes on him. He whipped around. He couldn’t see anything through the dark and remnants of smoke. He pulled the antenna of his helmet down and activated the infrared view.
And there, in shades of orange, yellow, and green, a single figure ran toward them. Crosshair couldn’t get any words out before the shot came. A bolt struck the clone with green on his helmet, killing him instantly.
“Nemec!” Howzer cried.
He tried to lunge for his friend, but Crosshair shoved him behind a rock. “Get down!” More shots followed, striking the stone in front of them. Crosshair’s eyes rapidly sought out Omega. He didn’t breathe again until he saw her sandwiched between Hunter and a boulder.
“Omega, smoke grenade,” Hunter said.
“We’re out!”
Crosshair could see the man, no doubt the clone operative, as a bright spot through his infrared lens. No one else would be able to see him. He tapped his comm so he could be sure everyone heard him without having to speak loudly and said, “I’ll draw his fire. Get to the rendezvous.”
“I don’t like that idea,” Omega replied, also through the comms.
“Too bad.”
Crosshair stood up and took a shot. It missed, the operative rolling to the side. He kept firing, trying to track his movements.
“Crosshair!” Omega cried behind him.
Crosshair didn’t turn around. The operative shot at him. He moved to the side, away from the others, keeping up a stream of fire through his rifle.
“Crosshair!” Omega’s voice sounded farther away. Someone was pulling her back.
The shadow clone passed right through Crosshair’s scope as he came closer. Crosshair fired. He saw the infrared shape stagger, but then suddenly it was gone. He looked up. He spun a circle, looking with and without his lens. The river raged to his side. There were numerous boulders all around him that provided ample hiding spots. Crosshair crept toward the place he had last seen the operative.
Then suddenly he was upon him. His rifle was gone, perhaps lost when he fell in the spire, but he shot with a sidearm blaster. Crosshair barely dodged. The shadow lunged for him. Keeping ahold of his rifle with one hand, Crosshair caught the clone’s wrist with his other, forcing his gun to the side. It fired uselessly into the ground. Crosshair twisted the man’s wrist until he lost his grip on the blaster. It clattered against the rocks and tumbled a few feet away from them. The operative made a grab for Crosshair’s rifle instead. Crosshair was at a disadvantage in close combat. He’d trained along with his brothers, but the up-close-and-personal style of fighting had always been Hunter and Wrecker’s forte. He tightened his grip on his rifle as the shadow tried to yank it from him, the diamond-shaped eye plates of his helmet flashing in the moonlight. They struggled back and forth for a few long seconds.
Their feet slipped at the same time. Neither clone had noticed the edge of the river getting closer during their tussle. Crosshair didn’t have a chance to take a breath before he fell. His rifle slipped out of his fingers as icy water rushed over his body. The river was deep and the current strong. His head submerged. He flailed for the surface as rapids forced him forward.
By the time he came up, his helmet had been pried off. He gasped. The operative splashed in the river behind him. They were both swept downstream. Crosshair could see a point just ahead where the water fell away. He raked his arms against the current. Then he was falling. Water pounded him as he dropped in freefall down the waterfall. He curled his arms over his head.
He plunged into open water sooner than he expected. The force of the waterfall above forced him down. He squinted open his eyes to look for any hint of light. Pumping his arms and legs, he fought against the pressure in the water and clawed his way upward. His lungs burned before he at last broke the surface. The current hadn’t stopped. It pushed him ever onward. Arms trembling, Crosshair swam for a big, flat rock sticking up in the middle of the water. He almost missed it, but his left hand just managed to grab on before he swept past it. He pulled himself up, crawling on his elbows onto the rock.
Crosshair took great gulps of sweet, fresh air. His whole body shook with cold and exertion. He slowly pulled his legs up onto the rock too. He was trying to stand when he heard the splash at his back. The operative burst out of the water. He leapt onto the rock beside him with such agility and forcefulness that Crosshair no longer wondered if this was one of the enhanced clones. A vibroblade with glowing orange tips flashed in his hand. Crosshair dodged his first slash and caught the clone’s arm with the second. The blade hovered an inch from his forehead as he held the man back with all of his remaining strength.
“You had your chance to be one of us.”
It was the first time Crosshair had heard any of the enhanced shadow clones speak. His voice was modulated by his helmet and sounded un-clone-like. Almost alien. Crosshair could see his own reflection in the dark eye plates of this enhanced sniper, this man created from the same template as himself.
Crosshair kicked him in the stomach. He stumbled back just long enough for Crosshair to pull his sidearm. Both of his hands were shaking as he fired. What should have been a point blank shot grazed the operative’s shoulder armor. The clone came forward with another slash and then another. Crosshair was forced back, barely avoiding being gutted. He stepped off the rock to find the water on the other side of it only knee-deep. The shadow swung his knife down so quickly that Crosshair didn’t get another chance to fire. He brought his arms in front of him in an X shape to block the blade. The clone strained against him. He was stronger.
“You chose the wrong side,” he said.
Crosshair’s strength was about to give out. That blade was going to embed itself in his forehead. He could think of only one thing to do. He tilted suddenly to one side, throwing the man off his balance. The knife kept going into empty space. Crosshair got one more shot in with his blaster. He was going for the shadow’s hand, but hit the vibroblade instead. It bounced into the river and vanished beneath the current.
The operative recovered quickly. He slammed his helmeted head into Crosshair’s unprotected one. Crosshair grunted, staggering back in the water as flashes burst across his eyes. He could no longer feel the blaster in his hand. He tried to throw a punch. It must have looked pathetic. He was hit in the stomach with a fist as hard as durasteel. Then his feet were kicked out from under him and he was laying flat on his back against the riverbed, water racing over him.
Strong hands pushed down on his shoulders. He couldn’t lift his head above the water. A last burst of adrenaline flooded Crosshair’s veins. He tried to pry the hands away. He kicked his legs. He arched his back. The hands would not relent. A choke escaped his throat. Pain lanced through his chest when it could not expand. Darkness creeped into the edges of his vision.
Crosshair realized he was going to die.
But Omega is safe. It was his last coherent thought. He’d distracted the shadow long enough for Hunter to get her away. She would never be taken back to Tantiss.
All of a sudden, his head was above the water again. He was breathing, gasping, before he wrapped his mind around it. The operative fell limply to one the side as though shot from behind. Whether he was unconscious or dead, Crosshair didn’t know. The current lifted Crosshair off the riverbed and pushed him downstream again. He needed to focus. He needed to swim. His brain was floating just as much as his body. The shadow’s form rushed by him in the water.
And went over a drop. Another waterfall, bigger than the last, was fast approaching. Crosshair marshaled what remained of his faculties and pumped his arms. He tried to get his feet under him. He couldn’t find the bottom anymore. There was another rock sticking out of the water right where it crested. An outcrop from the shore, in fact. Crosshair didn’t even know how he grabbed it. He couldn’t feel his limbs. His feet were pulled toward the drop. He clung to the slippery stone with one hand, his arm stretching out. His other hand scraped clumsily for a hold.
A tight grip took hold of his wrist. Crosshair looked up. Howzer was there, crouched on the rock. “Come on, soldier!” he said. He closed his hands around Crosshair’s arm and pulled back. Crosshair was dragged back out of the river and onto dry ground.
Water fell off of him in rivulets. He got to his hands and knees, panting. Everything hurt and felt numb at the same time. “T-thanks,” he managed.
Big footsteps pounded out to him on the outcropping. Wrecker pulled him to his feet. He had Crosshair’s drenched helmet in one hand. Keeping a hold on his upper arm, he helped him over to the shore. Hunter waited for them there. He had Firepuncher.
“You were supposed to escape,” Crosshair croaked, taking his helmet and rifle.
“Couldn’t without you,” Hunter said.
“Omega?”
“She’s fine. Let’s go. Echo should be here any minute.”
* * * * *
Omega’s eyes were red and she frowned at Crosshair when he came plodding back from the river. There wasn’t time to ask her for an explanation because they had to cover the last short leg of the trip to the extraction marker. A shuttle of clones loyal to the Empire found them there before Echo did, but Rex recognized the Commander and was able to talk him down. In a first for the Empire in Crosshair’s experience, they let the dissenters board Echo’s ship when it arrived and fly away. Crosshair half expected to be shot down. When they broke atmosphere with no resistance, he collapsed against the wall of the ship with a sigh.
He couldn’t remember the last time he was this bone-deep exhausted. Not to mention soaked through. He rested his head back and shut his eyes. He was barely able to stay upright.
He heard a sniffle. He opened his eyes and looked down to find Omega standing in front of him. The frown hadn’t left her face. She clenched her fists at her sides. She stared up at him, and he down at her. Before he registered what was happening, she flung her arms around his waist and buried her face into his middle.
“You can’t do that!”
Crosshair faltered. How did people hug kids? What was he supposed to do with his arms? He’d only ever received hugs from his brothers (mostly Wrecker) and they were always roughly the same size. He settled on patting her back. “I’m okay.”
“I don’t want you to do that,” Omega said, her voice muffled against his armor. “I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself.”
Her shoulders shook and he realized she was crying. Panicking, he looked around for Hunter. He should have known he wouldn’t be far. What he didn’t expect was for him to just stand there a few feet away, watching them with a soft look on his face. He met Crosshair’s eyes and shrugged with a smile. Some help he was.
“A soldier does what needs to be done to protect his squad,” Crosshair said.
“But that’s not all you are. You’re more than that. You can’t just…just…” She squeezed him tighter. Crosshair was aware of the other clones aboard trying to give them space, but it wasn’t like there could be much privacy on a ship like this.
Crosshair sighed. He was so tired. Gently pushing Omega back, he knelt down. “The most important thing is keeping the Empire away from you. Whatever they want you for, it can’t be anything good. We have to do whatever it takes to stop them. That means keeping you safe. Got it?”
She rubbed her eyes angrily. “No. I don’t like that. Look how many clones died today because of me! I already lost Tech. I can’t…” Her lower lip wobbled.
Finally, Hunter stepped in. He crouched down too and put a hand on her shoulder. “Crosshair’s right, Omega. Protecting you is not only important to us, it’s vital to hampering whatever Hemlock is doing on Tantiss. What happened to Rex’s men is not your fault. The Empire was drawn there because of the operative they captured. They probably discovered you as a result. We shouldn’t have brought you there. That’s on us. We’ll try to do better.”
Omega wiped a hand under her nose. “As long as you both stay safe too.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “You can’t tell me one of you is my dad and then just go off and die. That’s not fair.”
Crosshair swallowed. Hunter nodded slowly. “I guess not. But in this squad, we protect each other too, remember? None of us are alone. We’ll watch out for one another. But you’re still our top priority. You’re not going to be able to change our minds on that.”
He said it with such a brilliant mix of affection and sternness that Crosshair marveled again at how good his brother was at this father thing. And how far he had to go to catch up.
Hunter pulled Omega’s cap off. There was a purple bruise on her temple about the size of a coin. “Why don’t we let Crosshair get some rest while I have a look at that? Go ask Echo where the med kit is. And grab a blanket for Crosshair while you’re at it. If he sits there in all that wet armor, he’s going to get sick. And I’m not buying him soup.”
Crosshair scoffed. “If I get sick, I’m sneezing on your pillow on purpose.”
Omega giggled. That one sound made everything worth it.
* * * * *
It didn’t take long for Crosshair to slump against the wall, dead to the world. Hunter and Omega had managed to bully him into removing most of his armor and wrapping himself up in a blanket in just his blacks. Omega’s eyes soon drooped too, and when Hunter saw her leaning against Batcher like a pillow, he found another blanket and brought it over to her.
“Goodnight, kid,” he said as he bent down and spread the blanket over her. He normally would give her a kiss and say he loved her, but he wasn’t sure if he’d been restored to that level of trust yet. Or if Omega would want him to do any of that in front of spectators.
She pulled the blanket up to her chin without looking at him. He was about to stand up and leave when suddenly she jumped up. She encircled his neck with her arms and squished herself against him. Hunter rocked back, catching himself on his heels. He wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m still mad,” she said into his shoulder. “But I love you.”
He pressed his cheek against the crown of her head. “I love you too, Omega. I hope you know that no matter how the genetics shake out, that will never change.” As he said it, he realized it was true. No matter how desperately he wanted her to be his daughter, even if she was his niece, he would love her just as fiercely.
She held him tighter. “Same for me.”
He waited until she was ready to break the hug. She curled back up against Batcher and he readjusted the blanket. He ran a quick hand through her hair, then he left her to rest. He noticed Rex watching them when he stood up. He wore that same troubled expression that hadn’t left his face all day.
Hunter came over to him. “I’m sorry about your men, Captain.”
Rex looked down. “Thanks. You know, I thought that the end of the war would mean an end to losing more of our brothers. But I was wrong.”
“Rex…you can’t win this fight. The Empire is too strong.” He’d had this same discussion with Echo months ago. Maybe now, after losing almost all the troops he’d scraped together in one fell blow, Rex would see reason.
But, just like Echo, Rex replied, “I can’t just walk away. Not now. And neither can you. Not with the Empire being after the kid.”
Hunter let his eyes drift back over to Omega. She and Batcher were huddled in a puddle of light from a bulb on the ceiling right above them. “We’ll protect her. We won’t let them take her again.”
“I heard what Omega said about her escape,” Rex said. “I think she’s vital to whatever they’re doing on Tantiss. And if you want to keep her safe, you need to find out why she’s so important to them.”
The niggling sense of dread that had been at the back of Hunter’s mind ever since he heard about Nala Se’s suspicious activity with Omega’s blood samples pushed itself forward. “But…she’s not a clone. She wasn’t designed by the Kaminoans. What use could she be to them?”
“She may not have been made in a Kaminoan lab, but she spent the first years of her life in one, right? Nala Se isn’t just an expert on cloning. She’s a geneticist. Your squad of all people should know how she likes to experiment. Maybe she did something to Omega as a young child. Maybe she altered her, messed with her DNA. There must be a reason why she’s keeping Omega’s genetic material from being examined by the Empire. She wouldn’t bother if there was nothing there to find.”
Hunter wanted to punch something at the thought of that Kaminoan taking his little baby, never telling him that she existed, and experimenting on her. He wanted to believe it wasn’t true. But…there was that section of Omega’s file that Tech could never uncover. He said it was fragmented and written in a code that he didn’t have the cipher for. Maybe Nala Se had done something to her. Something so secret that she broke up and encoded the records.
The dread grew into a yawning pit in Hunter’s stomach. He spent the entire trip home awake while the rest of his family slept.
