The Bad Batch and Ryki had reached a deal. In exchange for her joining their crew, they'd provide her with security and a place to stay. "Alright," Hunter said standing up, "Let's get going." 

A chuckle escaped Ryki "Woah there. We're not in a rush, are we?". The boys exchanged glances, "Not exactly...," Hunter replied. "Awesome, cause I was actually hoping you guys would like to stay for dinner?"  

"You, want to eat with us?" Tech asked with surprise on behalf of his baffled team. Ryki quirked her eyebrows and nodded, "Why not?" She pointed to the small bond fire near her garden: "Plus, I kinda already have some stew over the fire, and waste not, you know. Also, I'm sure your daughter would want something to eat." 

"Daughter!?" The four exclaimed, suddenly their eyes were wandering everywhere else rather than looking at Ryki, she laughed at their sudden shyness. Hunter cleared his throat, walking himself to the door "I'll go get her." then he paused, "Oh, and she's not technically our daughter-" 

"Whatever you say, Sarge, just wake her up already. Dinner is almost ready." Ryki mock saluted Hunter, then turned to Tech, Echo and Wrecker. "Now, I suppose you guys could help me pack some stuff up?" 

-----

'Daughter', Hunter thought in his silent walk to the ship. Though it's only been a short while since he's gotten to know Omega, he had to admit that the young girl had somehow wormed her way to his heart and into the hearts of the rest of the Batch. Wrecker even made her, her own room. Deep down, Omega meant a lot to him and he would protect her. He did what Omega thought of her new family. 'Family', the Sargent sighed, he approached Omega's room and knocked on her room's wall. "Omega?" 

It was quiet for a while until he heard a sleepy groan from the room. Hunter chuckled, 'she sure loves to sleep in her own room'. Climbing up the ladder, Hunter poked his head through the curtains. Omega was curled up in her blankets as she clutched Lula, deep in slumber. She looked so peaceful, Hunter almost didn't want to wake her up, "Hey, kid. Dinner time." Sleepily rubbing her eyes, Omega sat up with messy hair. "Where are we?", she asked noticing the lack of engine sound from the Marauder. 

"Still on Ord Mantell. We had to stop to make a new, uhm, friend." 

"Friend?! Dinner!"

Hunter was still hesitant to call Ryki a friend, but they were in a desperate situation. Besides, he didn't sense anything of malice from the Mirialan, not yet at least. Hunter forced a smile and soon enough, Omega was motivated to run out of her room eager to see this new 'friend' of theirs.

-----

"Wrecker, Echo, catch that droid!" 

Three Bad Batchers were chasing around Ryki's malfunctioning hybrid droid, B7. She asked if Tech could check him up, he agreed, but the spherical droid had a personality of its own and started to roll around the house, running away from Tech. 

"Got him!" Wrecker managed to corner B7 against the wall, Echo revving his robotic hand intimidatingly. While B7 was distracted, Tech jumped on the droid and finally got a hold of him. With a few tweaks here and there and some rather harsh language from B7, Tech managed to do some rewiring and fixed the stubborn droid. B7 complained in binary and rolled away angrily, Ryki sighed. "Thanks for fixing him up, and uh, sorry for his words. B7's got a personality." Offering a hand to Tech, she pulled him up on his feet. "No problem," He nodded. 

"What type of droid is that anyway?" 

Ryki shrugged, "Honestly, I have no idea. I found him wandering around in Black Spire, the next thing I knew he followed me around like a lost pet." She explained to Echo, cringing soon after when she heard some questionable beeps and chirps from her droid. "Oh, and thanks for the help Echo, Wrecker." 

The mirialan looked around her temporary home and huffed, "Looks like I'm all packed thanks to you guys." Wrecker looked a little confused when he saw only two bags on the floor, "That's all you got?". Ryki nodded, "What can I say, I am a light traveller. We'll take this to the ship after dinner." 

"Everything alright? Saw an angry droid running out there." 

"Everything's fine, Hunter," Tech informed his brother. "So Hunter, is your little girl awake?" Ryki walked up to the door where the Sargent leaned against. Hunter nodded his head towards the herb garden. Following his line of sight, she saw a little girl walking around the garden with the widest smile on her face. Ryki chuckled, "She's very curious". Omega's small gasps and excited laughter brought the rest of the crew to the house's entrance. "She's not seen other planets before," Echo expressed sadly which in turn spiked Ryki's own curiosity about Omega. "What do you mean?"

"Well, before she met us, Omega was only ever on Kamino and not allowed to go anywhere. All of this is very new to her." Ryki quietly dwelled on Tech's information. From what she could assume, Omega didn't have an interesting life before this. She pitied Omega, in her eyes no child should be kept locked away. They watched as Omega pranced around and poked at the different plants in Ryki's garden. Slowly, Omega's attention was drawn to the bonfire. No doubt the smell of sweet stew had attracted her, though she got a little too close to the fire for any of the boys' comfort. Hunter was about to lunge out towards Omega, only for a small hand to hold him back by the shoulder, "Don't worry, Hunter. She knows not to get too near. I'm going to go talk to her." 

Weirdly enough, Hunter awkwardly did as the mirialan told him to. Ryki patted Hunter's shoulder, then flashed the guys a smile before walking off to Omega. Oddly enough, Ryki somehow reassured them that Omega would be fine under the woman's care. "Is it just me, or are we actually okay with Ryki being around Omega?" Wrecker asked confused. "Ryki is a woman. Her maternal instincts must be kicking in. That and Hunter can sense if she means any harm." Tech explained like it was the most obvious thing ever. "If Hunter does not worry, we don't need to." 

"That does not answer my question Tech." 

Tech rolled his eyes, "Yes Wrecker. We are all okay with it. Surprisingly." 

"I wouldn't get too close to the fire if I were you." Omega jumped slightly from her position. She turned to only find herself gaping with awe at the mirialan in front of her "Woah...", Omega cooed. Ryki felt amusement rising within, "Hello there little one. I'm Ryki Taala. You can call me Ryki." Omega watched as the mirialan, Ryki, sat on the ground, not wanting to intimidate the girl. "Woah... what-who are you?" 

Ryki watched contently as Omega carefully approached her, eyes scanning her up and down with innocence.  She could see a billion questions pass Omega's brown eyes. "I'm a mirialan. How bout you? What's your name?" The playfulness and calm in Ryki's voice urged Omega to come closer. "I-I'm Omega. I'm a clone." Omega continued to look at the green-skinned woman and couldn't help herself from asking, "Why is your skin green? I've never seen anything like it." 

"It's just how my people look like." Ryki took Omega's curiosity about the matter as a good sign of the child's growth. Omega could not help herself but awe at the woman again, "You're soo pretty. Your eyes are soo beautiful!" She admitted out loud. A smirk played on Ryki's face, she tilted her head and grinned, "You're beautiful yourself young one." Ryki held out a hand and Omega grasped it tightly, bouncing lightly on her feet. "It's wonderful to meet you, Omega." Green emerald eyes met the younger, vibrant golden-brown ones. The Batchers watched with amazement in their eyes and an unspoken bond slowly began to surface between the two females.

-----

Another serving of stew was passed around. Ryki had the Batchers gather around the fire and she offered them bowls of sweet stew. "Awh yeah! This is the best thing I've eaten in a long time." Wrecker was more than happy to accept the other bowl of stew that Ryki kept for him. "You should make this more often." He complimented. 

Ryki had a very satisfied smile on her face. By how the boys and Omega ate, it looked to her as if they had not eaten anything like this before. "Have you not eaten stew before?" She braved her question. "No. We usually just eat ration bars. They're aren't as appetizing as this." Echo told her. 

"Hmm. Looks like you'll be eating more of my stew soon." Several quiet yes' from Tech and Omega made Ryki laugh. While the six rested by the fire, Ryki was entertaining the many questions the boys and Omega had for her. Tech as usual asked about Ryki's many herbs and how she patented them. Echo was just as curious, he asked how much her medicine was worth. "Well, in the black market it could go up for about five thousand credits per vile of patented medicine." She somehow had an inkling that she, Tech and Echo would get along well. Though she made it quite clear that she was not ready to reveal her past to the Bad Batch when Echo had asked her about her what she worked as. Echo seemed to catch on to Ryki's uneasiness about the subject and dropped it.

The boys had moved what little of Ryki's belongings into the Havoc Marauder. Tech took it upon himself to make sure that all her patenting equipment was kept by his own tinkerings and creations, making sure it was far away from Wrecker's destructiveness. Hunter stood watch as Ryki and Omega put out the bond fire, the mirialan not missing a beat to splash Omega with some water. Watching the two girls act carefree around each other even though they just met made him wonder why it felt so natural to allow Ryki this close to Omega. He couldn't help but smile, it made him feel weird.

"What is it?" Hunter turned to see Echo standing beside him. The two boys watched as Omega and their new recruit continued to mess around. "You're worried," Tech noted. Hunter sighed, folding his arms. "How can I not be. We don't really know her that well and we're are welcoming her on board. She's on the run and so are we. That's just going to draw more trouble for us." 

"True. She's made it three weeks free of worry though. Not to mention she did allow you to sense any bad intentions from her." 

Hunter knows Ryki won't hurt Omega, but the past that she kept hidden troubled him. He did not want any more bounty hunters coming after them. They could not even handle Fennec. The tenseness from the Sargent was easy for Ryki to pick up on, even with the distance between them. "Alright, your friend's a little impatient waiting for you." Ryki joked and pointed at Hunter. Omega grumbled a little, "I still wanna play". 

"We'll play in the ship later, alright?" Nodding, Omega skipped ahead and went into the ship, Echo following her behind. 

"You're sure about leaving?" 

The mirialan stopped just a few paces away from Sargent. She didn't need to search his mind to notice his distrust. "What's wrong dark and broody? Not reconsidering your offer are you?" The Sargent ignored her sarcastic quip, "Your good with Omega," he simply stated. "I suppose I am. Thank my instincts I guess." 

"What are you hiding about your past? You tensed up when Echo asked you." 

"One would tense up when the topic is overly sensitive. You don't find me asking you about your missing teammate now do you." 

Hunter narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. Her words clearly affected him and she could see it. "I wish for you to respect my discretion about the topic as you would want me to mind yours, Sargent." Neither two broke their intense glare on each other. "I'm not going to hurt Omega if that's what you're worried about." 

"How can I trust you?" 

Ryki's glare hardened, "If it's one thing I cannot tolerate, is seeing a child not being able to get the life they need. I went through that and I know no child should suffer my fate." Promises past her lips, "I won't let Omega's childhood be taken from her. Whether you want to believe me or not is your choice." Not sparring another second, she walked past Hunter. Her eyes piercing the side of his head as he avoided her stare. "If it's all the same to you, I don't really know if I can trust you. You could turn me in to the nearest bounty station if you wanted to." 

Hunter finally returned her glare. "Bold of you to assume we wouldn't. We're low on credits." 

Ryki chuckled, her eyes narrowed somehow making the emerald of her eyes glow a dangerous green. "Bold of you to assume you would." 

"What do you mean?" 

"You need my talents to survive, I'll tell you that. Also, I don't think you can bear not seeing Omega not laugh and smile as she did earlier." Hunter's eyes widened. "Don't deny it, Sargent, you put up a brave, tough front. For Omega on the other hand you would do anything. So would I."

Taking one last look around her small patch of garden, Ryki mentally prepared her for her new journey. "I suppose we will just have to learn to trust each other, even if we don't quite like it." With that, she disappeared into the ships hull. Hunter watched her with tired eyes. "We have an agreement on that one." 

------------------

AH YES! I COULD NOT RESIST ONE MORE CHAPTER. I wanted to secure Ryki's and the Batchers relationship at this point before we move on to the next chapters. 

Hunter's not going to trust her that easily, and Ryki's is not planning to reveal her past anytime soon. Tech and Ryki are definitely going to geek out together over Ryki's medicine making from her herbs. Echo's going to join in slowly cause he and Tech are quite close. I can see the trio become like a geek squad together. 

Omega's gonna fawn over Ryki, cause let's face it she has not been with the company of another girl before, since the only 'females' she's been around is Nala Se. Literally, everyone else on Kamino were our clone boys.

 Also, Fennec almost kidnapped her, so it's going to be Omega's first encounter with a nice girl who's not a bounty hunter and not likely to kidnap her, LOL. 

AND I CAN'T WAIT FOR BAD BATCH EPISODE 6 TOMORROW. *EXCITED SQUEALS* 

See ya'll soon, enjoy and take care!!