STEALTH and TRACK: BOOK ONE

BONUS CHAPTER FOUR: Alternate Ending

TIMESKIP TO AFTER CROSSHAIR SAVES FERN AND OMEGA (Just as I wrote in my original ending)...

FERN'S POV

At last, we broke to the surface...Hunter reached down and hoisted a sputtering Omega and allowed her to rest in his arms. In my exhausted state, my eyes adjusted to Crosshair tossing his rifle aside to Wrecker and then kneeling into the capsule to help me in. I coughed and panted as I surrendered my last strength into his hold on me, my head collapsing on his shoulder.

"I have a visual on the Marauder." Tech reported. "I suggest we start paddling." Hunter and Crosshair took over steering and propelling the capsule, one of the latter's arms still supported my back. I finally managed to open my eyes and gain my bearings and the first thing I see are Crosshair's greyed eyes...for the first time, they were without ill-intent and almost gentle, instead of the cold and calcuated draw they usually depicted. They also repeated one message over and over...The damage has already been done...

No one thanked Crosshair for saving me and Omega. Instead, they had pointed their blaster at him when he was armed. The boys no longer trusted him and assumed the worst of him. The connection between Crosshair and the Bad Batch had become so strained...that nothing, even an honorable act of rescuing someone from drowning, could mend the connection...

"Crosshair..." I breathed in a soft voice where only he could hear. "I'm...so sorry..." All I could think about was my outburst in the training facility when he confessed he no longer had his inhibitor chip, how furious and heartbroken I felt...I thought about how I struck him in the squad's old barracks, and our talk in Nala Se's private lab...how I declared that he no longer had honor within him...that he was just a underling...

Not another word was spoken the entire float to the Marauder, which waited for us on this secret platform in the middle of the ocean. It took us the rest of the night to reach the platform, the sun shined in a bright blue sky as we hiked up the ladder. Hunter was the first one topside, and assisted the rest of us, hoisting Omega gently from under her arms and by my biceps. All the boys removed their helmets, and, from the platform's ledge, we all gazed across the ocean where the last remnants of Tipoca City disappeared under the sea, thick black smoke pillared into the clean air. It was all gone...

Hunter and I exchanged a side glance at each other, and our fingers laced together silently, squeezing each other's hands as if to reassure the other that we were all okay. When I looked at the other clones' reactions, they all had a subtle sadness, like they didn't want to show how broken they felt. After all...even though Kamino never felt like one, it was still our home...

"It's...all gone." Omega breathed. I released Hunter's hand and knelt down behind her, hugging her across her front. As my chin rested on her collarbone, I whispered, "In the end, Omega, home is where your heart is."

"We should leave before the Empire's scouts show up." Tech suggested.

"You coming with us?" Wrecker asked Crosshair. I rotated my head to the latter, and his distressed eyes told me everything.

"None of this changes anything." He glared at the boys. Hunter stepped forward. "You offered us a chance, Crosshair. This is yours."

"I made my decision."

Hunter paused, locking eyes with his former comrade and friend. "We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies." Instead of responding, Crosshair averted his eyes and crossed his arms, giving Hunter the signal that he was done discussing it. One by one, I watched the boys file onto the Marauder. I nudged Omega along with Hunter, who gave me a look when I didn't follow. I gestured over to Crosshair with my eyes and the sergeant got the message.