Mom Omega

Part 12 - Retrieval

When Omega and her brothers ask Cid for a pickup, she refuses, leaving them stranded far away and forced to recover the Marauder on their own. And Wrecker picks up another friend.

"No can do, fellas. I'm tied up at the moment. You'll have to figure it out yourselves," Cid states flatly, brushing them off as though their desperate need of help means nothing.

"But you sent us here!" Omega argues, "We need your help."

"Well, I didn't tell you to get your ship stolen, did I?" their employer sasses back.

Wrecker glares at her, as does Crosshair, hurt and confusion in his brother's eyes the same as his own. "But we need you!" he protests miserably.

Cid looks them all over, then huffs. "All right," she agrees begrudgingly, "Give me a few days, and I'll see what I can do."

"But we don't have enough food for a few days," Hunter argues.

Cid cuts the connection anyway, leaving the five of them standing there empty-handed, watching the disappeared hologram of their employer.

Crosshair digs his fingers into the rock and flings a small movable one across the deserted village. His shoulders slump defeatedly. Wrecker doesn't know what to do. He's already hungry, and he only has a few rations left. He could eat that in one meal. They didn't realize they needed to carry their entire ship with them.

"What do we do now?" Wrecker asks finally, looking helplessly at Hunter and Omega.

His sister's jaw clenches a little, and she sighs. "We'll figure something out." She paces a few feet off and sinks onto a nearby rock. Hunter follows her, lightning flashing distantly in the sky again.

"Like what?" Crosshair asks, slowly rounding to her other side. Wrecker follows, and Tech slowly comes up to join them, sitting next to Hunter. Wrecker can't help noticing the distance his brother puts between them, and it hurts. Tech was being mean earlier, but Wrecker really didn't want him to be hurt, either.

He didn't want him to be mad.

He was just... really mad himself.

"There is another town," Tech offers finally, "We can search this village for remains of a speeder we can fix to take us there."

"You have a good idea," Omega agrees, "Hunter and Crosshair, keep an eye out, and watch the storm. Warn us if it hits again. Tech, Wrecker, and I will fan out and search for a speeder."

***

"I'm bored, I'm hot, and I'm starving," Wrecker rants. Slumping miserably beside the pathetic heap of junk that Tech insists will work.

"I thought I told you to preserve your rations," Omega points out across from them, helping Tech fix two more pieces together.

"Ya did," Wrecker grumbles, glancing over at his twin where Crosshair sits, just watching. "But... I got hungry. An' I still have one left, but if I eat that, I've got nothing." He tries to hammer another piece together, and instead, the whole side topples apart. Crosshair cackles, and Wrecker swivels a miserable glare at him. "We're wasting our time," he complains defeatedly, "This skiff's a heap of junk."

"Yes, but with a few repairs, it'll be a slightly operational heap of junk," Tech argues, "The energy cells have just enough power to get us to the town on the other half of the hemisphere."

"That sounds good to you," Wrecker snaps back.

"We forgot about Gonky," Omega exclaims suddenly, strangely excited.