Chapter Text
Omega clutched her abdomen as she curled up to sleep in a corner of the main hull. Her stomach had graduated from growling to stabbing, and she was running out of things to distract her from her hunger. After all the excitement of escaping from Kamino, she was too wound up to concentrate on her usual methods, like walking herself through her schedule for the next day. But she didn’t particularly want to use that one regardless, considering she had no idea what tomorrow was going to look like. Or the day after that. Or the day after that, and she didn’t want to think about the possibility that she’d made a huge mistake.
She knew next to nothing about these clones. Sure, she followed all their missions, and she talked to them every day when they were babies developing in the tubes, but now? They were battle-hardened soldiers. That much was very clear, regardless of their charm, and she had no idea how they would handle having her around. They didn’t seem to be interested in experimenting on her just yet, but wasn’t Tech genetically modified to value data and information? She was an unknown, and if he decided he wanted to figure out what made her tick, just like Nala Se had done, there would be nothing she could do.
Not to mention what would happen when she messed up. The Kaminoans’ discipline had been harsh, but clear. She knew exactly what was going to happen for each transgression. Here? She didn’t even know the rules she was supposed to play by. And none of the squad looked incapable of doling out punishment.
But she was very purposefully not thinking about all that. So the feeling of her stomach eating itself was all that was on her mind. Of course, as she had learned long ago, the only thing that made hunger like this feel worse was dwelling on it.
It didn’t look like she’d have any opportunities to earn something to eat anytime soon, so she resigned herself to the discomfort and closed her eyes as she tried to sleep. That was, until Hunter knocked on the wall a few feet away from where she had holed up, causing her to flinch awake. She jerked back when she saw his form before relaxing as he kept his distance and held his hands up. It was then that she noticed he was carrying a ration bar. A whole one.
Omega felt her mouth watering before she resolutely shook herself. She was fine. It had only been a day and a half since her last meal. She had gone much longer than this without eating. She just needed to stop being a baby.
“Hey, kid. Sleep well?” Hunter crouched down beside her, wearing a warm smile on his face. She tried to smile back, but she doubted she managed to do it convincingly.
“Yes, very well. Are we coming out of hyperspace now?”
Hunter huffed a laugh. “Not quite. We’ve still got a ways to go before we get to our friends. Saleucami’s a long way from Kamino. I just wanted to give you this.” Then, he held out the ration bar in his open palm.
Omega gaped. A full one? Just for her? For no reason? She reached out her hand eagerly before hesitating. He had to be joking. Or waiting to collect on the debt she would owe him. Food was never free.
She withdrew her fingers and bit her lip. “What… what will it cost?” She couldn’t take her eyes off the bar as she waited for his answer. Honestly, no matter what he said, she didn’t know if she’d be able to resist. She was just so hungry.
“Cost?” The confusion in Hunter’s voice made her look up at him. His eyebrows were knit together, head tilted. His doubt was contagious, and suddenly she felt as if she had lost her footing as well. Did he take her question as a sign of disrespect? She hurried to correct her mistake before he took away the bar altogether.
“I mean, not that I’m not grateful either way!” She rushed out. She didn’t know how to dress up her meanings in fancy words like Nala Se, so she just fell back on what the Kaminoans told her and hoped he would forgive her blunder. “It’s just that I know how valuable it is, and I know you wouldn’t waste it on me for nothing, so I was just wondering if you can tell me what I’ll have to do for it. So I can be prepared to serve you better when it’s time!” She knew she was speaking too fast; ten lashes her brain hissed at her. But even knowing the consequences, she couldn’t force herself to slow down.
The longer Hunter’s silence went on, the more anxious she got, and the more she wished she had just kept her mouth shut and taken the ration, regardless of the cost. She was about to risk speaking one last time to tell him to forget it and beg forgiveness when he beat her to it.
His eyes were soft, almost sad, when he spoke. “Omega…it’s food. You need it to survive. You don’t have to do anything to get it.” She blinked at him, speechless, until he held out the ration again, pushing it toward her.
“Take it,” he insisted. “I’m not going to ask you for anything in exchange.” She hesitantly grasped the proffered food, but still waited for his permission to start eating. She stared at him expectantly for just enough time with no reply that she started wondering if he was going to force her to merely hold it and salivate. But then he blinked and recognition cleared his features. “Go on,” he nodded encouragingly despite the frown he was wearing. With that, she scarfed it down as quickly as possible. She didn’t want to give him a chance to change his mind. He watched her quietly while she ate, that same sad look in his eyes.
When she finished, he reached out toward her face. She wasn’t sure if she was allowed to move or not, so she held still as she waited to see what he would do. She flinched when she felt the contact on her head, expecting pain, but he just ruffled her hair gently and whisked his hand away again. It almost felt nice.
He smiled weakly, reached into a pouch on his belt, and deposited another ration bar at her feet before he stood up and started to walk away, leaving her flabberghasted. Two rations bars?! In the past five minutes, she had spoken out of turn, received no punishment, and gotten more free food than she’d seen in her whole life. Which sounded like it might be a recurring event? She felt faint. And it wasn’t the hunger this time.
But before Hunter got far and she got too lost in her thoughts, he turned his head back over his shoulder. “You come find me whenever you’re hungry, ok, Omega? We’ll get you something to eat.” He paused. “And it won’t cost you.”