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Wrecker sighed as he leaned against the wall of the Havoc Marauder as he watched Omega stare out one of the windows, it had been one month since the fall of Kamino, since they had lost Crosshair a second time. It had taken a large toll on every member of the Bad Batch, but far more so Omega. She hadn’t had the years of loss that the rest of them had, while Hunter and Tech were keeping checks on her physical and mental wellbeing, Wrecker couldn’t help but to wonder, what about her emotional state?
While Wrecker loved to play the loveable dummy role, it simply wasn’t cutting it in terms of helping his little sister; no matter how many pranks, how many times he gave her explosives to disarm, nothing ever seemed to truly cheer her up. Thus, he decided to try another approach; he scooped up Tech’s datapad to research something he was positive would work, after a few hours, he was pleased with his findings so he went to find Hunter, which wasn’t too hard. He found his sergeant watching Omega sleep, assuring she was safe, as he had done every night since the fall of Kamino. Wrecker tapped his shoulder, making him jump, he whispered as low as he could.
“Sorry to scare ya’ sarge, I got something I wanted to talk to you a ‘bout.”
“What’s up Wrecker?”
Wrecker showed Hunter his findings with a smirk, Hunter shook his head, making the giant slightly deflate.
“Are you out of your mind Wrecker? We’re highly wanted men; we can’t bring Omega to a big event like that- “
“And they think we’re dead Hunter.”
Wrecker interrupted as he swiped the datapad, tapped and showed his sergeant his own death certificate; Wrecker had come prepared.
“If we keep our heads down and dress in civvies, they’ll never notice us.”
“And Echo?”
“Make him a droid again! Please sarge, I think this would be good for the kid.”
Hunter sighed at that, he couldn’t argue with Wrecker’s logic there, Omega had seemed pretty, off. She couldn’t seem to leave Crosshair’s pack alone, constantly tinkering with his old Firepuncher and trying on his old armor. The sergeant stood up, patted his comrade’s shoulder, and sighed.
“Let’s see what the rest of the batch thinks, and get some statistics from Tech. I’ll make my decision from there.”
Hunter didn’t even get to take a breath before Wrecker had scooped him up into a tight hug. The sergeant sighed before patting the giant’s back with a smile. Before long, they had all gathered in the cockpit, Tech having locked the door to ensure a private conversation. After Wrecker was practically vibrating after he had filled them in, Echo scrunched his face and spun his scomp nervously.
“I’m not so sure that’s the best idea Wreck, what if somebody recognizes us?”
“We were well disguised back on Saleucami!”
“And we don’t have those anymore!”
“Correction, we do. Omega requested I save them in case we may need them one day.”
Tech chimed in as he stood up and opened a hidden compartment, holding the exact disguises, along with a few more. He smirked to himself as he spoke,
“I also made some improvements to their comfort.”
Echo sighed and rested his stomp on his forehead softly huffing as he remembered his injury, before switching to his remaining organic hand. He glanced out the window of the door, watching Omega sleep for a few moments before looking back at Tech and Hunter before pleading.
“You two cannot seriously think this is a wise idea, right! We would be putting her in direct danger!”
“Echo, her emotional stability is crumbling, would it not be better to have a small risk to protect her further in the long-term?”
Tech said while showing Echo her med chart, the cyborg purposefully ignoring the child’s high stress levels,
“Solders don’t need emotional stability Tech; we need general stability!”
As Echo and Tech devolved into a petty argument, Hunter blinked to himself on the realization, were they truly turning Omega into a solder like them? He thought back to Cut’s words back on Saleucami all those months ago, “She’s not a solder”, the words ringing in his mind before he finally raised his hands to stop the argument.
“My mind is made. Tech, tweak those disguises for cold temperatures. Wrecker is right, Omega needs this, and so long as we’re careful, we should be fine. Crosshair gave us a shot at a normal life by reporting us dead, so let’s be normal for one night.”
Echo sighed but saluted, respecting Hunter’s authority despite being a higher rank, he knew better than to challenge the sergeant that had taken him in. Simultaneously Tech nodded and began typing up alterations on his datapad while Wrecker excitedly hopped in the pilot’s seat and changed course for the Wookie planet of Kashyyyk.
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Omega opened her eyes to the same old inside of the Marauder; she sighed as she hugged Lula and climbed down to the rest of the ship. She hugged Lula close as she rubbed her eyes, soon she tilted her head when she saw out a window that they had landed and there were many, many large trees.
She made her way to the cockpit to find only Tech tinkering with a small box; he jumped and scrambled to hide the box when she tapped him. He adjusted his goggled before clearing his throat and turning to her (careful to hide that box).
“Good evening Omega, if you are looking for the rest of our squad, they are already outside the ship.”
“Where… are we Tech?”
“We are on the Wookie planet of Kashyyyk; I believe you should go out and join the other’s outside.”
Omega smirked and raised her eyebrow inquisitively as she tried to look around her brother, who was desperately trying to keep the box from her.
“What’s that you’re not wanting me to see?”
“Something that I am working on- “
“And why can’t I see it?!”
“Because he isn’t ready for you to yet, come on turd, let’s go.”
Echo chuckled while picking up Omega by the collar of her tunic just before she could see Tech’s project and carrying her outside; much to Tech’s relief.
Before she could struggle much, Omega noticed Echo was in his civilian disguise, he rotated her to hold her like a football and smiled down to her.
“This was all Wrecker’s idea, look.”
He set her down and she looked around, to see fantastic colorful blinking lights, Wookies dressed in red robes and exchanging brightly wrapped boxes with huge bows. Omega’s eyes lit up as Hunter walked to them, opening his arms to accept the hug she excitedly gave him.
“Hunter! What all is this!?”
“This is the life day festival, it’s a Wookie holiday, mostly for the kids.”
“Can I…”
“The empire hasn’t found this sacred spot, so yes you can go have fun.”
It didn’t take much convincing for Omega to bolt into the crowd, giggling with and hanging out with the other Wookie children. Meanwhile Hunter slides next to Echo
“Is this a good idea?”
“You know my opinions on this sarge.”
“Think she’ll be safe?”
“Oh, that I can ensure.”
Echo smirked as he waved the receiver of a tracker he had put on the collar of Omega’s tunic, Hunter visibly relaxing as Echo spoke.
“If we’re doing this stupidly risky mission, I’m adding some extra protection for her.”
Elsewhere, Omega was getting to try some roasted rootleaf and quickly learning she was NOT a fan of the dish, yet she was trying to politely swallow the bite she had. Soon, Wrecker came up behind and scooped her up, laughing when he turns them away from the Wookie elders and Omega spat out the bite she couldn’t bring herself to swallow.
“Not a fan?”
“Wrecker, that was probably the grossest thing I’ve ever eaten.”
“Aw c’mon kiddo, rootleaf ain’t that bad!”
“I think I’d rather have a hundred plates of Kamino soup instead!”
Wrecker laughed at her comparison, food back on Kamino had quite the reputation of being bland. He glanced up at his little sister and noticed her starting to look sad again. Wrecker was determined to keep her happy today of all days and thus began running to a nearby vendor, quickly buying a small plate of white, shimmering orbs before setting Omega down and handing it to her. She tilted her head.
“What’s this?”
“Try it! It’s better than rootleaf, I swear on it.”
And with that, she popped one of the orbs in her mouth, her eyes lighting up as she swallowed the desert. Wrecker laughed as she wolfed down the rest of the plate. Soon his commlink pined and he smiled before kneeling down to Omega.
“Are you ready to see why we’re here?”
“Absolutely.”
Before long, the whole batch, along with hundreds of Wookies had gathered around a large tree in the center of the village. After a few moments, suddenly the Wookies all began lifting orbs into the air. They were similar to the ones Omega had eaten earlier, but these were small droids, when they reached a certain altitude, they lit up various brighter colors, far more vibrant than anything Omega had ever seen. After a moment, Tech tapped her on the shoulder while offering her one of the bright boxes she had seen earlier.
“It is tradition for older family members to gift young Wookie children Life Day Orbs to release to the life tree.”
Omega gasped and shredded the wrapping off the box, much to Tech’s internal cringe, soon unveiling an orb with the bad batch’s signature logo on the front. She gasped softly before looking at Hunter for permission, before lifting her own orb into the sky; it illuminated a bright red as it floated up, soon disappearing into the rest of the lights.
Omega closed her eyes and listened to the Wookies sing their life day carol before she smiled brightly as she looked back to her brothers, while things may not be the same anymore, she felt deep in her core that things would be okay; the bad batch would be okay.