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“And you’re sure this is where Cid said to go?” Hunter asked, peering out the window next to Omega. There wasn’t much to see, mostly just… white.
“Positive,” Tech replied.
Echo came up behind them, squinting against the brightness. “Either I’ve finally lost it, or we’re parked in the middle of a snowfield.”
“That would be correct,” Tech confirmed. “We seem to be in a tundra of sorts, although the exact coordinates have instructed us to park at the base of this mountain, which I did.”
“But… I thought we were going to a town?” Omega looked between her brothers, but they all looked just as confused as she felt. That had been a logical conclusion, when Cid had sent them here to pick up some ‘delicate cargo’ from a ‘friend of hers.’ Omega was no expert, but if she were a smuggler, she didn’t think she’d want to operate out of a huge expanse of open space.
Hunter grimaced. “Me too.”
Tech emerged from the cockpit, adjusting his goggles. “Well, technically–”
“No technically-ing,” Wrecker interrupted. “I say we go take a look!”
After another round of debating(bickering) Hunter finally cut in, agreeing that they should at least get out and have a look around. As soon as Omega stepped outside the ship, she was immediately hit by a wall of cold air that seemed to sink right into her, coiling in her chest. She wrapped her arms around herself against the chilly wind, looking out at her surroundings. They were definitely in a snowfield, like Tech said, and it was deep too. Omega had to squint to keep her eyes open against the refulgence of the ice, even though the sun was setting now.
The mountains towered above them, an imposing mix of black exposed rock and heavy ice and snow that glittered with reflections of sunset orange. It was beautiful, but something about it made Omega uneasy. Hunter seemed to be thinking similarly, if the way he was looking at it with narrowed eyes was anything to go by.
“Looks like Cid gave us the wrong coordinates,” Echo said, through already chattering teeth. “ Again .”
“There is a town nearby,” Tech reported, tapping on his datapad. “It is about a rotation’s walk west of here, and it seems to match the description Cid gave us. I would suggest we start there.”
“Great, we can get back on the ship then,” Echo agreed, already walking back towards the Marauder. “ Force , it’s cold out here.”
The others kept talking, but Omega was focused on Hunter, who was still staring up at the jagged face of the mountain. He looked frozen, in that way he always did when he was listening. Omega was frozen right along with him. She’d even stopped shivering.
“Hunter…?”
Suddenly he snapped out of it, grabbing her by the arm and spinning around back to the ship. “We need to go. Now!”
“What–?” But then she heard it: a deep rumbling that was so low it was almost inaudible, but now it was getting louder. Fast. Hunter was still pulling her along through the snow, but over her shoulder Omega could see a cloud of white cascading down the mountain.
“Avalanche!” Wrecker shouted a second later, and then they were all running. It was rough going, all slippery ice hidden beneath deep powder. The cloud was getting closer by the second, and they were still about twenty paces from the ship. Finally, Tech managed to open the door remotely, and they all lept through the opening, Omega’s boots just barely slipping through before the door sealed shut again. Not a moment later the ship was slammed hard, turning it over, tossing them all around as snow and chunks of ice bombarded them from all sides.
Someone grabbed Omega around the waist, shielding her from the brunt of the impact. The sound was deafening outside, the walls of the Marauder rattling and bending under the pressure. Omega squeezed her eyes shut waiting for it all to be over.
And then it was quiet. The ship stopped moving.
Slowly, Omega opened her eyes. It was pitch black, forcing her to blink hard to adjust to the darkness. “Is everyone alright?” came Hunter’s voice from right next to her ear. She quickly realized he was the one who grabbed her, and was proven right when he let go to sit up and the cold came rushing back in.
Grunts of affirmation came from the rest of the batch, miraculously uninjured besides a few bruises that would definitely be making themselves known in the next few days. Omega flexed all her muscles, finding little to no pain there. But wow, it was really cold.
Wrecker was the first one to get up, his footsteps moving away from the group to the other side of the ship. “I’ll get the door,” he announced.
“Wrecker, wait–!” Tech started, but was cut off by an “uh-oh” from Wrecker and then a crash that sounded a lot like snow and ice hitting a metal floor. This proved to be a correct assessment when Echo turned on a flashlight a moment later, shining it on a disgruntled Wrecker, who was now knee deep in a pile of snow.
“I think we might be snowed in,” Wrecker reported, dusting off the powder, and slowly closing the door again.
“You think?” Echo said flatly.
“Snowed in?” Omega repeated, looking around the now trashed ship. “How are we going to get out?”
No one answered, which wasn’t particularly comforting, but Tech had managed to find his datapad again with the help of Echo’s flashlight, and appeared to be running diagnostics.
“Tech, how’s it looking?” Hunter asked, not having moved from where he was sitting on the floor (the wall actually, considering the ship was turned sideways).
“Not promising,” Tech replied. “All systems are offline. It’s not beyond repair by any means, but we would need a lot more power than Gonky can give us, as well as a lot of tools we don’t have at our disposal. There is also the matter of being buried under what is most likely several feet of snow, and without the power we can’t fly out.”
“So we dig,” Wrecker supplied, rummaging around in the weapons trunk for the rusty old shovel that they kept for Force knows why.
“That’s going to take forever,” Echo pointed out. His scomp was spinning one way and then the other, although whether it was an attempt to keep it from freezing or simply a function of Echo thinking Omega wasn’t sure.
“Not much else we can do,” Hunter replied. “It’s getting colder by the minute, and it was already getting dark when we landed. I’d rather take our chances digging out there than staying in here.”
And so it was decided; they would dig. The rest of the shovels were eventually located, along with some unarmed blasters that made make-shift tools. It was slow going, but they were making progress. The plan was to dig out the lower doors that were facing — what they were pretty sure — was sideways, and make a slow incline upwards to avoid a cave in. While her brothers dug, Omega set up the flashlights on a crate so they would stay pointed at the door. Then she dug around in the ship's small closet until she found the emergency winter gear, which consisted of decently warm coats, a few blankets, and a singular pair of gloves. Yeah, they didn’t spend a lot of time on snow planets. Still, it was better than nothing, and Omega stopped shivering a little bit once the coat was zipped up tightly around her.
Almost two hours later, the tunnel was finished. “So, what’s the plan now?” Omega asked as they all pulled on the coats and packet up rations, water, medical supplies, and the blankets.
“We start walking towards the town,” Hunter replied. “It’s not much, but walking will keep us warm, and at least we’ll be going the right direction.”
Omega wasn’t so sure. “The town that Tech said would take a whole rotation to walk to? On a planet we don’t know at all?”
“Welcome to Clone Force 99, kid,” Wrecker laughed, lifting up his backpack.
Omega supposed she didn’t have a response for that, so she strapped on her own pack, following her brothers out through the narrow tunnel.
It had gotten dark while they were buried under the avalanche, the sky now fading from purple to inky black. The moons reflected their silvery glow on the snow, giving them enough light to see by without too much trouble. The walking itself however, quickly proved hard work, trudging through knee high drifts, exposing skin stinging at the frigid wind. The coat was some help, but the temperature was dropping significantly and it wasn’t long before Omega was shivering violently again. Even with Hunter’s scarf wrapped around her neck and face the wind still seemed to blow right through her.
Around her, the rest of the squad wasn’t quite as bad, but still clearly cold. Echo was the worst, and even though he hadn’t complained once, Omega could see he was obviously freezing. His metal body parts and wired arteries made his heat regulation terrible, and he had a tendency to get chilly even just sitting on the ship. Omega almost offered him the scarf, but she knew there was no way he would take it.
As time wore on, it didn’t get better. Even with her hands shoved deep in her pockets she felt like her fingers were freezing off. For the past hour Wrecker had kept a hold on her shoulder, keeping her moving forward, but even with the extra support she felt her eyes drooping with exhaustion. If she could just go to sleep… everything would be okay. Maybe she could lie down, just for a minute, and then keep going. She stubbled, but Wrecker caught her, preventing her from face planting in the snow. It just looked so soft.
“Uh, Sarge?” She was dimly aware of Wrecker calling to Hunter up ahead. “The kid’s not looking so good.”
Omega blinked heavily, and when her vision focused again, Hunter was crouched in front of her. “Omega? Can you hear me?” He rubbed a hand up and down her shoulder. “Force, she’s freezing. Tech!”
“I can hear you,” she replied, although the words felt heavy on her tongue. “‘M really tired. Can we sleep?”
Hunter’s concerned gaze darted over her face. “Not yet, kid. Stay awake for now, okay?”
Omega nodded, or tried to at least. She wasn’t sure if it worked or not. Tech’s voice came from somewhere nearby. “...might be hypothermic. I’m picking up a cabin close to here. If we can make it there, we might be able to stay the night and warm up.”
“Let’s go then,” Hunter said. A second later, she registered being picked up by Wrecker. She curled up as tight as she could in her coat, trying to block out the cold even a little bit. She was still so tired, but Wrecker kept talking too loud, and she couldn’t quite get to sleep. Couldn’t he talk a little quieter?
When she looked up next, a little brown shack was coming into view. “Put her down. It should help her stay awake a little longer,” Tech instructed, and then Omega was standing again, if a little shakily. With her feet back on the ground, she felt a little more awake, looking around at her brothers. They were still walking towards the cabin, but they all kept looking at her like she would keel over, which she still wasn’t entirely sure she wouldn’t.
Eventually, they reached their destination, finding it empty except for some cots pushed up against the walls, and a fireplace on the far side. They filed in looking around to make sure it was really abandoned, which it seemed to be.
“Wrecker, start a fire,” Hunter ordered. “Tech, Echo, help me push the cots together near the fireplace. Omega, stand by Wrecker, but don’t sit down, understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Omega replied dutifully, and the others nodded, immediately jumping into action. She heard the sound of the cots’ metal frames scraping against the wood floor behind her as she watched Wrecker light the fire. It started quickly, some angel having left a pile of dry wood next to the chimney.
Once it was going, Omega was guided to sit down in front of it. She did, finally feeling some of the deep-set chill ease as the flames danced brightly down the logs, releasing sparks into the air. In the rest of the cabin, plans were clearly being made, but she wasn’t really listening. After a quick back and forth between what sounded like Hunter and Echo, the latter came to sit beside her, sitting in that strange way you can when your knees have a three-sixty degree range of motion.
Omega tore her eyes away from the fire to look at him, noticing that he was still shivering, good hand held gingerly to his chest. “What’s wrong–” her voice came out croaky, and she tried again, “What’s wrong with your hand?”
“It’s nothing,” Echo replied, although his expression betrayed that he was clearly in pain. “Don’t worry about it.”
“It doesn’t look like ‘nothing,’” Omega insisted. “It looks like your fingers are all blue.”
Echo sighed. “It’ll be nothing once I warm up a little. It’s just–”
“Frostbite,” Wrecker finished, “which you’re supposed to TELL PEOPLE when you HAVE, you kr–” Omega saw Hunter give him a significant look, jerking his head at Omega, and Wrecker quickly amended, “you… cr–crab… you.”
That made Echo crack an amused smile. “Yeah, sorry, I can be such a… crab sometimes.”
“Terrible crab,” Wrecker nodded, looking at Hunter for approval, who just gave a tired sigh, and went back to unpacking the supplies. Then Tech re-entered the room, carrying a crate full of more blankets.
“I retrieved these from the shed,” he said, setting the crate on the floor next to the cots. “Their warming qualities may have deteriorated with time — clearly this cabin has been uninhabited for many cycles — but regardless they should be satisfactory along with the ones we brought.”
“Good,” Hunter nodded. “We’ll need everything we can get, even with the fire going.”
The plan for the night, Omega eventually pieced together once she was warm enough for her brain to function at normal speed again, was to all sleep in a sort of blanket-nest near the fireplace, hence the cots being pushed together.
Once everything was set up, they all stripped down to blacks, save for Omega, who stayed pretty much as she was. It was clearly a relatively familiar practice for the squad, sleeping like this, probably due to the fact that they’d been raised together pretty much since birth. Wrecker lay down first, providing a kind of guideline, followed by Hunter and Tech. At Hunter’s invitation. Omega climbed up as well, settling between Hunter and Tech with her head resting on Wrecker’s stomach.
Only Echo remained, perched awkwardly on the edge of the bed. Omega noted his absence quickly, sitting up again. “Aren’t you coming?” she asked.
He gave her a small, almost shy smile, shaking his head. “I don’t think that would be such a good idea.”
Omega tilted her head at him. “Why not? You’ll freeze all the way over there.”
Echo nodded at his prosthetic legs, and then his scomp. “I don’t want to, you know, accidentally stab someone in my sleep. The metal will be cold for the rest of you anyway. I’m alright here.”
“I’m sure you won’t stab anyone,” Omega assured him, glancing at her other brothers, but none of them made a move to say anything. Apparently she was handling this one. “And besides, I’d rather be maybe-poked than waking up to an Echo-icicle tomorrow. Besides, I need all the body heat I can get to stay warm, so I don’t freeze to death either.”
Echo narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you trying to guilt me into joining a cuddle pile?”
“Is it working?”
“Omega, my body doesn’t actually give off that much heat in the first place–”
“ All I can get ,” she repeated, holding out a hand to him. After a second of looking cautiously from Omega’s face to her hand, he took it. Slowly, Echo scooted up the bed to eventually lay down near their feet. He still wasn’t even close to being on top of anyone, but at least he was closer, and he was under a few blankets now. He also hadn’t let go of her hand, and Omega made no move to take it back.
Now satisfied, she lay back down and rolled over, tucking herself further into Hunter’s chest and body heat. It wasn’t long before her eyelids began to droop again, and she felt Echo finally stop shivering.
Omega fell asleep that night feeling warm and safe, surrounded by her family in a pleasantly warming cabin in the middle of nowhere. Their ship might be under several feet of snow, but in the morning they could walk the rest of the way to town and find a way to dig it out. Either way, none of that mattered right then, except for five warm bodies and the snow falling softly outside the window.