Nu Kyr'adyc, Shi Taab'echaaj'la

Part 9

The trip back to Ord Mantell was a quiet one. No one talked to each other and the only sound that was heard, besides the hum of the engines, was Wrecker's quiet sobs. Hunter just spent the entire trip either pacing back and forth mumbling things to himself or cleaning Omega's room. Something deep inside of him still thought that Omega would be sleeping there and she would come back in and ask what he was doing. But deep down Hunter knew that was impossible. She was gone... forever.

Eventually they arrived back at Ord Mantell and Echo walked over to Hunter, he seemed to be the only one that was willing to talk. Hunter was appalled by how quickly he had seemed to recover from such a tragedy as Omega's death.

"Do you want me to come with you when you go and deliver the payment to Cid?" was all he asked.

Hunter scowled and shook his head. "No, I want you all to stay here on the ship. Tell Wrecker and Tech that I don't want anyone leaving and if there's any trouble contact me immediately. And, if you see Crosshair..." Hunter's voice trailed off. He didn't really know what he wanted them to do if Crosshair showed up. As angry as he was he couldn't bring himself to want him dead. Afterall, despite everything, Crosshair was still Hunter's younger brother and he could never wish pain upon him.

Not wanting to think about it any longer Hunter grabbed the case of credits and made his way to Cid's bar. As soon as he got there he found that it was empty inside except for the regular weequay and Ithorian, Bolo and Ketch. Ignoring them Hunter made his way to the bad of the bar and into Cid's office. As soon as she saw him, more specifically the case in his hand, he expression lit up.

She opened her mouth to speak but Hunter cut her off. "We quit," Hunter said, tossing the credit's case on Cid's desk. Somehow he had managed to keep his voice level although he wanted to shout at the tradoshian. He felt that would relieve some of the pain that was building up inside of him and that it would release some of the anger that had built up towards Cid. She was the one who had given them the mission; She was the one who hadn't warned them of the danger. But above all Hunter wanted this to somehow be her fault, he wanted someone to hold the blame other than himself. But Hunter knew that was wrong. Instead he just glared at Cid before turning and storming out of her office before she could even ask follow up questions.

Hunter paused before exiting the bar almost as if he was expecting someone to stop him but nobody did. Cid probably couldn't care less about him quitting, one less person she had to pay money and one less group she had to cover for.

Since nobody stopped Hunter he left the bar and was met by rain steadily falling from the sky. He grumbled about it to himself before making his way slowly back to the ship. As he walked he felt the anger inside him slowly start to ebb away and before he knew it he couldn't tell if the water rolling down his cheeks was raindrops or his own tears. Thoughts kept racing through his head.

"If only," he thought aloud quietly to himself, "I had managed to persuade Omega not to come on the mission. If she hadn't come she would still be okay. If I had left her with Cid everything would still be fine, she would still be okay. Or maybe, if I had told her to come to me rather than go back to the ship. I could have protected her or maybe the shot would have hit me instead. I have armor that could have taken the hit, Crosshair's shot wouldn't have done much to me. And maybe I could have moved faster and gotten to Crosshair quicker. I might have been able to stop him before he had a chance to shoot Omega."

Hunter was still mumbling to himself by the time he reached the ship and it was only then that a thought hit him. He had promised Echo that he would talk to Omega after they were done with the mission. He was so focused on everything and he was so sure there would be time after they got back to Ord Mantell where he could sit down and talk with Omega. Before he was even able to go back on the ship Hunter's legs gave out from under him and he collapsed to his knees. Somewhere in the distance thunder rumbled and Hunter knew that the water flowing down his cheeks was fresh tears.

It was then that he realized that if he had one chance to do that entire mission over again he would go back and tell Omega everything he planned to tell her after the mission was over. Perhaps that would have changed the outcome of things? If Omega knew she didn't have to prove herself maybe somehow things would have ended differently. If Hunter had been a better guardian over the young girl she might still be alive. Instead she died worrying about failing him and it was ironic because while she was worried about failing him Hunter had failed her.

After some time of just kneeling on the ground Hunter got to his feet and stumbled inside the ship. The scene hadn't much differed from when Hunter had left except for there was something that caught Hunter's eye. Sitting atop one of the crates was Omega's small batcher doll along with the picture she had drawn earlier. Someone must have found those and placed them there.

Hunter gingerly picked up the doll before grabbing the drawing and looking down at it, a sob escaping him. As much as Hunter sometimes forgot, Omega was still a child both physically and mentally. Unlike him, Echo, Tech, Wrecker, or Crosshair she was much too young to die. It just wasn't fair. But when was death ever fair. It always took the best always too soon and nobody would ever know why that was the case. The most pure in heart were always the ones taken from the cruel galaxy first and it wasn't fair.

Taking the doll and drawing with him Hunter walked over to the nearest chair and collapsed onto it. He had never felt so defeated. He had never felt so useless because Omega was gone and as much as he wished there was nothing he could do to save the young girl. He could hold the picture and doll as close to him as he wanted but that wasn't going to bring Omega back, nothing could bring her back. The only thing, besides trinkets, that Hunter had left of her were memories. All of them seemed to be reliving through his head now making him cry even harder.

There was the time when they had first met her and Hunter had been weary about taking a child under his wing in such a dangerous galaxy. He was right to be worried. He had eventually decided that they needed to save her and that he would be able to protect her. He was so confident that no matter what happened Hunter would always be able to protect Omega.

This confidence had stayed with him even after they saved her from Cad Bane. He had started to become so sure that no matter what the galaxy decided to throw at them Hunter would be able to keep Omega safe. How wrong he had been. He had been able to save her from Kaminoans, bounty hunters, crime lords, and even most of the empire, but he wasn't able to protect her from Crosshair. The one thing that he knew the best out of all of them was the person he now realized he knew the least about.

Hadn't it been Crosshair on Kamino who had tried to get Omega on a shuttle going off-world? Wasn't he the one that had rescued her from drowning? Hadn't he been working to protect the young girl back on Kamino? Now he was the one that killed her. He really had changed and was no longer a person that Hunter even recognized. The Crosshair that Hunter knew would never want to do anything to hurt the Bad Batch and he had proved that on Kamino by not killing Hunter. What had changed since then. It obviously wasn't his inhibitor chip so how else had the empire managed to brainwash him.