Mom Omega

Part 3 - Replacements

Author's Note: This is for Febuwhump Day Twenty Five: #Alt 10 Last Man Standing.

~ Rivana Rita 

After escaping Saleucami, Omega and her brothers crash-land on a moon as they struggle to repair the Marauder.

"I wanted to make this a long time ago," Crosshair confesses to her, glancing up. They're in the cargo hold now, and he's... attempting to sew some very, very odd-shaped black fabric pieces together. He's been keeping them out of sight of the others, which was when Omega found him down here. "But I never had time. Hunter always knows where I am. Sometimes he comes back really late after experiments, though, so I had time to cut this out."

"Experiments?" Omega asks. She tries to sound neutral but doesn't quite think she managed it.

"Mm. All the time."

His hand nearly slips, and Omega winces. "Careful," she warns.

"Don't worry," he shrugs, "I've been stabbed with much worse than a needle." Omega has no idea if that's supposed to make her feel better or horrify her more. Definitely does the second, though. "Hunter's always last one in," he says, "Dunno what they do to him. Never talks about it."

Omega has so many questions about that offhanded comment. She doesn't think he's trying to worry her, but she's still freaking out. "Did they hurt you on Kamino?" she finally has to ask.

Crosshair's face scrunches. "They said they're doin' it to make us better."

Her gut clenches. She wants to say something, but then the lights flicker and black out.

Crosshair yelps. She's almost certain he just stabbed himself. "Better put that away," Omega says, trying to reach out to pat his shoulder and missing entirely. "I'll go tell Echo 'bout the lights." She stands, climbing up the ladder and Crosshair follows a few rungs behind. Wrecker grabs his hand, pulling him up. "Echo," Omega calls, "The lights are dipping again."

"Yeah," he grumbles up from the cockpit, "Add it to the list. The ship got hit hard when we fled Saleucami. Several systems have been glitching ever since."

Yeah, she can tell. And feels a bit called out, because she could be helping instead of talking to her brothers, which she's... basically been doing the entire time. She had to check the ration supply, too, and that's low. She'd fully restocked before they left for Onderon, even if she didn't think they'd be gone for long, just in case. After the Sieges, she'd been expecting to be gone far longer. Omega hadn't been equipped for six people though, much less someone Wrecker's size with his needs. He eats a lot. He had two whole trays at the cafeteria.

"The ship-wide diagnostic report indicated no critical systems were compromised," Tech calls from somewhere up front, and a millisecond later, there's a loud rumbling and the ship jolts so violently Omega trips into one of the seats, grabbing the back for support.

"How is getting thrown out of hyperspace not critical?" Omega half shrieks, running to the front.

"It's not affecting life support!" he protests.

Yeah, okay. Tech is officially fired from any and all further attempts at ship system status reports.

"Just get to the back and get strapped in," Omega warns, sliding into the pilot's seat and wrapping her hands over the steering wheel.

"The power capacitor's blown. We need to land immediately," Echo speaks up.

"Good thing I've had crash landings before," Omega mutters, "I know someone's who perfected the art, so I know what I'm doing. I think." She yanks on the steering control, trying to angle the ship in a direction it'll be able to skim over the surface for a while.