Call It Freedom

Chapter 12 - No Wonder It's Missin'

"I'm on it," Tech promises, already turning away to the Marauder. Crosshair gives him an inscrutable look as he shifts to scan the area for any possible attackers. With him on guard, they'll be fine. Still, that doesn't make it any easier for Hunter to walk away from his younger siblings, his squad. It's almost physically painful, in fact, and he has to force himself to keep moving, to not keep glancing back at them.

They'll be fine. They won't disappear on him.

Still, that doesn't stop the sinking feeling in his gut that something is about to go horribly, and Hunter has learned to always listen to that instinct. And yet, what can he even do? It's not as though they can leave. They need to get their chips out, and if they don't do it here on Bracca, he doesn't know where they even can.

He holds a blaster in one hand, flashlight in the other as he and Echo slowly creep further into the interior of the cruiser. As he walks, he gets a sense of déjà vu. This is the same cruiser they went to last time, and he knows how many memories will be evoked from merely being here. It'll be hard, but at least he's prepared for it.

They go through the halls, but there's nothing to see except rats running around. No intruders or scrappers. So far so good. It doesn't last when they reach a destroyed hall. ... That happened last time, too, and the only way across to the other side is via a cable or some such device. A grappling hook might work. Wrecker fell into the water down below and was nearly eaten by a dianoga. They can't have that happening again.

"Now what?" asks Omega, carefully peering over the edge at the very long drop below.

"The cable could work," Hunter says, gesturing to it, "But we could also use a grappling hook." Belatedly, he remembers that Omega has no training whatsoever unlike in the past when she came here. She doesn't even have her bow, which is all kinds of weird; he's so used to her carrying it everywhere.

He slides his blaster back in its holster, reaching for the cable. His foot slips, and he sucks in a startled breath as he teeters too close to the edge for comfort, jerking back instinctively, heart hammering. Kriff. He really, really does not like heights.

"You got a problem with heights now?" Echo questions, almost teasing.

He huffs out a breath. "I fell over a thousand feet off a mountain, got captured by the Empire, saw Kamino burn, lost Crosshair, and..." He cuts himself off, shaking his head. "Never mind. No, I don't like heights."

His fall on Daro wouldn't have been so bad if not for what happened after. And after Eriadu, heights are... even harder to deal with.

But he'll cope as he always has.

He secures the cable, and though he can feel Echo's and Omega's eyes on him, they don't say anything. It's not until after its secure that he realizes Omega probably won't be able to climb across. So, either they'll have to find a different route entirely, or they'll have to find a different way to get her over.

In the end, they settle for tying a rope around her waist and connecting it to the cable, so she won't fall all the way down if she loses her grip. She manages it surprisingly well, though she's obviously quite scared, and soon, they're creeping down the halls again towards the medbay.

"What did you mean about Kamino burning?" Omega asks, looking up at him.

He shouldn't have said that. Not right now. He should have waited until after this was all over to bring it up. "The Empire... destroyed Kamino," he answers, "And we were on it. I was captured, and all of you came after me." If he had been more careful in the first place, that never would have happened. Not then. But then, they would have run into Crosshair again eventually. That much was pretty much unavoidable, unfortunately, with him hunting them.