Chapter Text
The Batch know Omega is a CT-99. She made this clear from the beginning, telling stories of when she was little and would sit, wrapped in her favorite blanket, on the cold lab floor at night, when the lights were off and the dim ambient light came from the internal lights of the tubes in which her siblings, still fetuses, floated serenely.
She told how she watched them grow while Nala Se wrote things down on her personal datapad, how the Kaminoan would stroke her blond hair in a strange but gentle way, and tell that those babies were her younger siblings, special like herself, enhanced.
Tech inferred that this points to Omega being the first CT-99, and that she must have an enhancement, though he don't know exactly what. The most widely accepted theory is that the enhancement is her unaltered DNA, for she is a perfect clone of Jango Fett, except for the blond hair and one X chromosome.
But Omega knows better. She does have an enhancement, but it isn't her unaltered DNA. No, she always had... special abilities. She always knew more than she should have, could tell a lie from the truth, and could sometimes trick sentient beings into thinking and doing her bidding, even if she couldn't quite control that part. Oh, and she could also make glass shatter, metal bend, and objects float when she experienced particularly intense emotions.
But that wasn't her deepest secret. No. Nala Se knew of her abilities, designed her that way. The Kaminoan made her tiara, which partially suppressed her abilities, muffling them, when she destroyed half the lab in a fit of rage upon discovering that her baby brothers, the Bad Batch, had been taken from her.
Omega's secret, her secret ability that not even Nala Se knew about, was that she could see the dead. They were always there, in the corners of her vision. Brothers who seemed normal at first glance, but had an ethereal blue glow and a translucent appearance the next. They passed through walls, knew things, taught her tricks, and told her stories. Some had a last request that she granted, then departed; others were watching over their still-living brothers, but all were surprised that she could see them.
When the Batch caught her, she noticed almost immediately that the half-cyborg, who she later learned the name was Echo, had a group of brothers with him. At first, they didn't even notice her staring directly at them. It took months for them to notice, and when they did, they became cautious, keeping their distance and avoiding her.
Omega tried to chase them. She discovered there were four of them: three younger ones, their armor still shining white, as if they'd just emerged from Kamino. And a older one, in battered and scratched ARC armor, painted in blue patterns with a particularly memorable design on the helmet. Later, she realized that the blue of this soldier's armor matched Rex's, and deduced that he had been in the 501st Legion (if the way he'd tried to hug the Captain when he thought she wasn't looking was any indication).
But none of that isolation seems to matter now, as Omega watches one of Echo's ghosts, a younger one, kneel beside her brother's bunk on the Marauder, observing the slow rise and fall of the cyborg's chest as he breathed. She was curled up under her heavy blanket at the foot of the bed, huging Lulas while watching cautiosly. Echo's legs would usually be there, but Tech removed his prosthetics when they laid him down.
The brother must have thought she was asleep, probably not having noticed her watching him through a gap in the cocoon of blankets. He carefully reached for his helmet, removing it. His face was youthful, without many lines, but still carried the natural severity of clones. His gaze softened instantly as he looked at Echo. The action also revealed a tattoo that vaguely resembled one of the GAR-pattern rotary cannons her brothers had used in the war.
The clone placed the helmet on the ground with smooth movements, then shuffled closer to Echo. "Oh, Echo," he said, a soft but sad smile spreading across his face. "I know you miss us, especially him," whispered, raising a hand to ghostly stroke the sleeping clone's gray hair. "I know it hurts, believe me, it hurts him just as much. It hurts us too, seeing you, our vod'ike, separated," he sighed. "But it's not your time, not yet. This crazy vod'ike you found... they need you more than we do. They can't lose their ori'vod, and we can wait a little longer... Fives can wait a little longer."
Omega let out a gasp of surprise at the name Fives, recognizing the name. It was the name of the clone who had warned Rex about the inhibitor chips and would have saved everyone, if not for a shot to the heart. The sound must have been loud enough for the ghost to hear, because he looked directly at her.
"You're awake," he stated.
Omega, knowing there was no hiding anymore, emerged from her cocoon and sat up, wrapping her blanket around herself to avoid the chill of hyperspace. "Sorry," she whispered, looking directly into the clone's eyes.
The ghost's eyes widened in surprise for a second, before her gaze took on a calculating look she was familiar with. "You can actually see us, then," said, another statement.
"You didn't know?" she asked, confused.
"We suspected," the clone clarified.
"Oh."
"We've never been seen before," the clone commented, still testing the waters. "We were cautious."
"It's okay," Omega replied, offering a soft smile. "It's a common reaction."
The clone seemed surprised by the statement. "Aren't we the first ones you've seen?"
Omega shook her head. "No, I've always been able to see brothers who have marched on," she replied.
The clone frowned. "Just brothers?" he asked curiously.
"Dead, in general," the girl replied. "But I've never spoken to a ghost that wasn't a brother."
"It must have been difficult back on Kamino," the clone commented, still cautious. He was examining her to determine her trustworthiness. Omega had gone through this process countless times.
"Not really," she replied. "I grew up separately, in the labs," she explained, and the clone narrowed his eyes, intrigued. "I'm an unaltered clone of Jango Fett, like Boba. But he never knew of my existence. I'm a personal project of Nala Se, just like the batch, but while they went into normal training after a while, she kept me as her personal medical assistant."
"So it's no coincidence you're standing guard near Echo," he commented, nodding toward their sleeping, wounded brother.
"No," she replied. "I'm monitoring him," said, pulling the datapad she'd stolen from Tech from behind her and showing it to the clone.
"The others don't seem to have much confidence in your abilities," the clone commented, watching Echo's steady heartbeat display on the screen.
"Yeah, they don't," she agreed. "But it's less about trusting and more about noticing. To them, I'm a child," she explained. "And I really am, physically speaking, even if it's not here," she said, tapping her index finger against her temple. "I fought in the war, like everyone else, but I didn't go to the front like they did. I worked with the medical officers at Khaliida Shoals."
"You don't seem to care much about that," the clone pointed out, trying to understand her.
Omega shrugged, tucking the datapad behind her. "I can't care about what I never told them," she said. "Tech is a certified medical officer. Even if he doesn't have my experience, his skills are good enough that mine haven't been needed yet," she said, looking away from the clone and at Echo, asleep under the blankets, his face serene. "They think I spent the war on Kamino, shielded from its horrors. They want to protect me, maintain my ingenuousness." She returned her gaze to the clone. "I don't want to disappoint them, hurt them. Besides, I can have the childhood I always wanted."
The clone stared at her for a moment. "You're acting like an ori'vod, shielding them from the bitter truth," he teased, warming up.
Omega chuckled softly. "I'm older than everyone on this ship," she said.
The clone's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "How?"
Omega snorted, laughing softly. "Unaltered clone, normal development," she explained. "I'm thirteen. Echo is twelve and a half, and the bacth just turned eleven."
"Do any of them know their real age?" the clone asked, to which Omega shook his head. In response, he laughed out loud, throwing his head back as his body trembled. Omega envied him. He could laugh freely, for no one but her would hear him.
"You're a sneaky gremlin, kid," he said, smiling brightly. "They don't see the danger they've harbored."
Omega was offended. "I'm no threat to my brothers!" she scolded him softly, so as not to wake Echo.
The clone laughed. "Don't be so literal, child," she said. "It was a compliment, means you have a sharp mind."
"Oh," she said, blushing.
"I think that proves your story," the clone said, now serious. "You'd know that joke if you hadn't been raised in isolation," he remarked.
Omega was about to respond, but the sound of approaching footsteps interrupted her. "It's probably Tech coming to check on Echo," she whispered to the clone.
"I'll be going," he said. he grabbed his helmet and put it on before standing up.
“Wait!” she exclaimed, but not loud enough for Echo to wake up or Tech to hear. The clone turned the visor toward her. “What’s your name?” she asked hopefully.
The clone hesitated for a moment, but chose to answer. “Hevy,” said, his voice distorted by the voicecoder.
“Omega,” she replied. Hevy nodded, turned, and crossed the room in two strides, disappearing through the wall just as the door opened.
“Omega,” Tech called, closing the door behind him. “What are you doing up?” he asked, walking to the bunk and sitting beside her.
She didn’t respond, just grabbed the datapad from behind her and handed it to her brother.
He turned on the screen and examined the information, finding nothing amiss. “Are you watching Echo?” he asked, looking her in the eye.
She nodded. “I was Nala Se’s medical assistant,” he replied softly.
Tech stared at her with his analytical gaze before removing his right hand from the datapad, raising his arm in invitation. "Come here," he called.
Omega crawled to her brother, snuggling into his warmth. Tech lowered his arm over her, pulling closer. "It was a blaster shot to the abdomen," he said. "Echo survived the seppies, this won't kill him," he reassured her in his rational way.
"It hit the stomach, he had a leak of stomach fluid and internal bleeding," she pointed out, her voice muffled against her brother's body.
"And we treated him," Tech replied. "His oxygenation is good, heart rate is in sinus rhythm," he affirmed. "Sleep, Omega," he said, gently rubbing her arm. "I'll wake you when Echo wakes up."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
And so, she trusted her genius brother and let exhaustion take her.