Maree and Aldo emerged from the ship looking much different they did when they had entered it.
Maree, under Stark's advice, had changed out of her white pants and tan top into a dress. It wasn't just any dress, though. It was elaborate; the hem kissed the floor, trailing in the dust as she walked. She had seemed a little unsteady in her heels on the ship, so Stark suggested she take them off, much to her glee.
Aldo really couldn't get over the fact that the tiny 19 year old had somehow transformed herself into someone of noble blood. Her dress was made of satin, with royal blue half-cape, clasped at the right shoulder with(what looked like a real diamonds) stars and draped over her right shoulder.
The other side was decorated with blue feathers lined with pearls at the shoulder. The escutcheon at her waist was made out of bronze and pearls, shining off in the bright light of the planet's sun. Connected the outfit together was the actual dress, a long sleeved aquamarine frock of silk; with the help of the escutcheon it hugged her figure. Her feet were bare and dirty, as Zarina had suggested.
Zarina had also helpfully braided her waist length hair in some kind of elaborate style. After it was secured with a tie, Kellen produced a diamond hair clip which was then attached and clipped to the side of her head, secured to her hair.
Aldo had also gone through changes, though not as dramatic as Maree. In addition to his sleeveless black jumpsuit, he had on hard blue armor that looked as though it had quite a run in the past. He also hefted a large axe, over his shoulder. It was at least six feet long, blade gave it additional height. It was sharp and deadly. Aldo has almost cut off his finger when Stark had dragged it out into the living area. Looking at Maree reminded Aldo of the conversation he had with Stark before they had left.
"Where did you get all of this?"
Stark had been polishing the blade on the axe, using an oil cloth to shine it up so it would glare bright in the sun.
"The weapons were collected over time. Mostly as payment for jobs, and mostly gifted to Kellen." He had replied briskly, with the professionalism of an experienced mercenary.
"What about the dress? It looks like the real deal. It was the only the two of you on the ship right? Why a dress?"
Stark didn't look up from the axe. "It's real. It was my mother's."
"Oh." Aldo said. It got really quiet for a moment, but Aldo couldn't stand it. His curiosity was burning inside of him.
"What happened to her?" he asked bluntly, and then regretted it at once. Stark could sense Aldo's regret and looked up and smiled.
"It's alright Aldo. I don't mind talking about it. She was murdered."
"By who?"
Stark shook his head sadly. "It was-"
"Aldo?" Maree asked, pulling him from her
"Hmm?" Aldo replied. His blinked, his eyes adjusting to the bright light. He changed his hand position around his axe and looked down at his little friend.
"Did you hear any of what I just said?"
"Uh, no." Aldo admitted shamefully.
"Good."
"Wait, what?" Mare blinked and put a hand over her eyes so she could look up at Aldo clearly.
"Just forget about it. It was stupid."
Aldo stopped walking. "Hold on. You can't just say 'oh didn't hear me never mind then.' It doesn't work like that!"
Maree laughed, her grey eyes sparkling very prettily in the light. She ushered him forwards towards the base. "Just forget it. I made a bad joke, that's all. Anyways, for the important stuff. Do you have your coms?" Aldo tapped his wrist, where the device was secured. Stark had claimed he had based it off what the Jedi used, but Aldo wasn't too sure.
"What's going to happen when they get the hostages?"
"It'll vibrate." Aldo replied quickly.
"Oh. Right." Maree had forgotten most of the plan. She wiped her sweaty palms on her dress, and the thigh holster for her pistol brushed up against her hand.
"T-then we leave right? Do we run?" she asked, unsure.
"No. We say we don't have a picture of the guy. Or maybe something like that. Or their price is too expensive and we'll come back later with the down payment. We need to make a huge scene, so they'll be distracted with us will the three of them go and get the hostages. They'll be on board first so they'll call us when they're safe, and we'll be home free." Aldo said, and then raised an eyebrow.
"Are you nervous? You seem nervous."
Maree laughed breathlessly. "Me? Nervous? Never." She twiddled her thumbs as the neared the entrance.
"You'll be fine. Act natural." He smiled to her. They were finally all the way up to the entrance. Maree looked around.
"That's strange. Isn't there supposed to be people out here?"
Aldo looked around as well. "You're right. Where is everyone? The map said-,"
"Sh! Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Shhhh!" Maree waved her, shushing Aldo. "Listen."
At first Aldo couldn't hear it, then he closed his eyes and he finally did. It was faint cheering. Over and over again, repeated and harsh.
"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"That's not just me, right?" Maree asked. Aldo shook his head. "No." He looked own at Maree.
"Looks like we found our distraction."
"You guys are good to go." Kellen called from the cockpit. Shane stood up and stretched. "Finally! Let's go rescue some hostages."
From across the room, Zarina also stood up. She grabbed her black fabric bag and slung it over her shoulder. "I'm ready."
"As am I." Solaris said. Stark looked up from his data pad. "Coms are up. You guys need to go around back. Don't forget to avoid geysers."
"Right, right." Shane waved his hand. "Let's go this show on the road!" He hopped eagerly off the ship, followed by almost and equally gleeful.
Stark sighed and looked at Solaris. "Make sure they don't kill themselves." Solaris cracked a smile. "Will do."
He departed the ship and Stark sat down heavily on the couch.
Kellen walked in from the cockpit. "Some group, huh?" Stark laughed. "We pick good friends, old man."
"I'm 32, Stark. 32. Don't forget that."
"Whatever." Stark grinned. Kellen laughed and crossed his arms, leaning on the doorframe. "Maree seems happy and nervous. It's been awhile since she's been on my ship."
"You did a job with her?" Stark asked curiously.
"For her sister. The bartender. Maree had gotten herself into a messy situation and her sister asked me to get her back. It was quite the job. I almost died. Twice. Maree has a scar on the back of her leg from it."
"From what? Plasma fire?"
"Um, no. I dropped her." Kellen admitted. Stark burst out laughing. "You- ha! You- I can't breathe!" he was laughing so hard he was clutching his side. "You… dropped... her! So much for a rescue!"
"She was unconscious at the time. Don't tell her it was. I said it was plasma fire." Kellen warned. Stark nodded, still grinning and wiping away tears.
"Okay." He took a deep breath. "Okay. What happened after that?"
Kellen sighed and frowned, depleting the mood. "Well she didn't wake up for the entire ride. When I brought her back, she was in a coma for three days. When she woke up, she didn't remember most of what had happened. Stara and I figured it was for the best. Sometimes when you don't remember something it's because your mind doesn't want you to." He said gravely.
Stark drew in a sharp breath. "What happened?"
Kellen got a very grave look on his face. "Stark, I'm telling you this because I trust you. I don't want you to tell another soul, you hear me? I've known you since you were little, so don't displace my trust in you now."
Stark nodded, taking in the seriousness in Kellen's voice. "Of course."
"Maree is force –sensitive. In fact, The Force is very strong with her. Stronger than a normal person's.
Stark knew exactly what this meant. "They came for her, didn't they?" Kellen nodded, confirming what Stark was saying.
"A Jedi master named Obi-Wan Kanobi. When she was a little girl. Her parents pleaded for a little more time. He gave her that bracelet of hers. It's supposed to help in blocking The Force or something like that."
"How is that possible?"
Kellen shook his head. "I don't know. The war then started, and Maree was left alone with her sister and parents. The one day they were accepting a delivery, Maree and her parents. Maree must have been 16 or so. Her sister is ten years older than her. It was from the trade guild that has Sith lords on their side. Her bracelet was knocked off. There had been almost 11 years of it building up and it just sort of exploded."
"No." Stark muttered.
"Yes. Her parents were killed, so were a lot of the people there. The Republic said it was a terrorist attack. It was very dangerous for Maree to be there in the first place. There was a Jedi skilled in the dark side there. He took her to become his apprentice. Her sister hired me to investigate after the Republic wouldn't tell her what happened."
"What did you do?"
Kellen shrugged. "Went to the last place she was seen. Looked around, asked a few people questions, credits passed hands and I found where she was. So I went in after her, got her out and returned her to her sister. The war was both a blessing and a curse."
"So… Maree should be a Jedi right now?"
"Padawan, actually. She'd probably be dead if she fought on either side of the war She's too gentle for such things like war. That's why her sister sold their bar. They need this job to finally disappear for good."
Stark was stunned. He had heard of people trying to keep their force-sensitive children from becoming Jedi, but most ended up caving in and sending their kids. They didn't want them to go dark side. The few that were left alone were like time bombs. It was only a matter of time before they succumbed to the dark.
"That's... intense." Kellen nodded. "Exactly. So don't tell anybody, okay? The Jedi are short on numbers right now."
Stark bit his finger nail. It seemed that this confession from Kellen put everything into a new perspective.
Suddenly, the coms unit turned on.
"Stark!" It was Shane.
"What's wrong?" Stark jumped up, data pad in hand. Kellen straightened, poised and tensed.
"Um, how do I put this? We have a problem."
"What happened?"
There was a large crashing noise and an animal growled.
"What was that?!"
"Nothing! Nothing! Um, it's just that they were having a cage fight and Maree and Aldo were distracting them well and we snuck in and there' s no guards, but the cage with the hostages is surrounded by plasma bars. Also a tiger has bitten Solaris and won't let go."
"What!?"
"Uh, Zarina is trying to get the tiger to let go of his arm. It's really funny because he's really docile so he's just play-biting but he won't let go! It's really funny; I wish I had a camera to-,"
"Focus."
"Right. Okay, so we're working on that, but how do we get past the cage? It's all plasma. We can't get to them unless we blow up the wall next to it. One of the hostages doesn't look good- Oi! Are you okay in there?"
Shane yelled this to another person, and there was muffled reply back.
"Yeah, so he's not okay. And we don't have much time. Aldo and Maree are running out of time. Can you do some hack-y stuff to get us in without setting off any alarms?"
"I'll see what I can do. Kellen has the ship ready for you guys, so get the hostages as soon as possible. Uh, don't bring that tiger."
"Okay. Solaris- wait! Don't kill the- awh. He killed the tiger."
"Did it let go?"
"Well, yeah. He's dead."
"Hold on. I'll try to get you guys in."
"Kay!"
Stark sighed. "Kellen I hope you're ready for a quick escape." Kellen nodded and went back into the cockpit. Stark felt the engines kick on as he opened a new page on his data pad. He clicked the coms button on it.
"Where are you guys?"
"Uh, Block C? Cell A"
"Okay."
Stark pulled the plan he had used earlier for the 3D model, and looked for Block C. When he found it, he went through the base's security systems. It was considerably easy, considering Stark was the one who had set up it.
Once he had quietly destroyed the firewall, he logged onto one of their computers. It would be bad if someone was using it, because he had just taken control over it. Anyone looking would be able to see what he was doing. He prayed silently as he undid the security bars on the cell.
"Whatever you just did worked! We'll be there in five."
"You don't have much time. We need to get Maree and Aldo out of there too."
"We're already out the door."
"See you soon."
Stark stopped pressing the button and exited the security system. The ship rumbled and Stark felt his heart beating heavily. They were going to do it! They were actually going to do it!
Suddenly, someone popped up into the ship. He had crazy blonde and an even crazier grin on his face. He was carrying what looked like a corpse on his back in army gear. Shane.
"We're okay!"
Shane boarded the ship, still carrying a guy over his back. Stark gave him a look.
"He's alive! Where is somewhere we can put him?"
"Hold on." Shane pressed a button on his data pad that would signal Maree and Aldo. Zarina boarded the ship afterwards, lugging Solaris. Finally the last hostage with his friend leaning on him entered.
"Follow me." Stark jogged back into the ship, where the small 'infirmary' was. Zarina and Shane, along with the military guy followed behind him. There were only two cots, with black straps on the side, used for securing people for hyperspace, and to make sure they didn't hurt themselves.
Zarina placed Solaris gently down in a chair before turning and helping the limping military guy get off his friend. Stark noticed two of them, the one carried in by Shane and the other that was helping the limping friend, looked like copies of each other. They were clones.
"Shane, go keep a look out for Maree and Aldo!"
Zarina had already gone to work on the one that was carried in by Shane.
"Sir? Sir?" She asked him. She pulled a light out of her pants pocket and shined it in his eyes, opening them with her fingertips. "Can you hear me?" She turned her head to Stark and Shane.
"Bandage Solaris and the Admiral for me?" She nodded at the guy in military clothes.
"Yeah." Stark said. Zarina tossed him and Shane bandages, and then turned her attention to the man on the cot.
Zarina knew that he had been seriously injured, and if it was internal she'd need to operate. But on a non-sterile ship? It could be deadly.
"Hello? Sir? Can you hear me?" There was low groan and he opened his eyes. He was looking around lazily. He couldn't focus on Zarina properly.
"Hello? My name is Zarina. I'm a doctor; I'm here to help you. Can you tell me your name?"
"Mmph, Tens." He muttered out. His eyes started to close.
"Hello? Tens, stay with me." Zarina lightly jolted him. "You're alive. That's all we need right now. You're alive."
He opened his eyes and breathed deeply, wincing.
"Can you tell me what hurts?" She asked him, a tone of urgency to her voice.
"Can't…breathe."
"Okay. Thank you Tens." He closed his eyes briefly.
"Tens? Stay with me, please." She pulled out a stethoscope from her bag and put the two nubs close to her face and put the end on his chest. She listened closely for a minute, and then cursed.
"What's wrong?" Stark asked from across the room.
"He has a collapsed lung!" Zarina rummaged through her bag, looking for something, she pulled out a pair of gloves.
"What?!" Shane asked.
"I need to re-inflate it. It's is typically caused by a blockage of the airways or pressure on the outside of the lungs or a puncture. There are tons of possibilities. He must have fallen hard or-!" she had lifted up his shirt, revealing blue bruised marks.
"-was beaten very badly. Blunt force. Okay."
"What do you need?" Shane asked. He had finished bandaging Solaris, who was wincing and rubbing the newly bandaged wound.
"Using my better judgment I'd say it's a large puncture. For large punctures that require continuous excess air removal, which this one does, I need to insert a chest tube or he is going to die."
"Do you have one?"
"I'm a traveling doctor, of course I have one! It's not sterile, though. It's been in my pack this whole time. I'm short on supplies so I have to clean up supplies once I'm done using them." She pulled out a packaged needle and started to unwrap it.
"I spend my credits on these things."
"What're we going to do?" Shane asked.
"I need some hot water or antiseptic."
"The ship has a kitchen! I'll go boil some! Shane stood up and dashed towards the door.
"Hurry!"
Stark took two pieces of plastic from the nearby counter of limited medical supplies and made a make-shift splint for the Admirals' leg. He wrapped it tightly up to the best of his ability while Zarina tried to keep Tens awake.
She pulled out a hollow tube is attached to some kind of suction device. "Tens? I'm going to insert a chest tube into your right lung. It's collapsed. I don't want to give you any anesthetic so you will stay awake, okay? This is going to hurt a bit."
He only muttered something inaudible in return. It seemed like a long few minutes until Shane came back holding a pot of boiling water.
"Here!"
Zarina tossed the tube in quickly, and then removed that man's shoes.
"Why did you do that?" Shane asked her.
"Don't ask." Zarina muttered, pulling on the gloves she had retrieved from her bag. She took the tiny needle she had unwrapped, dipped it into the hot water, and leant over Tens. "Dry off the chest tube." She instructed Shane, who did as she asked, then turned her full attention to Tens.
"Ready?"
He could barely nod.
"Okay. Three! Two!" She jabbed the needle into his side before one. Tens groaned and there was a whooshing noise. She took the needle She handed out her hand for the chest tube and Shane handed it to her. She used a tiny scalpel to cut a slit big enough. She then took the chest tube and slid it into his lung. She connected the tube to the suction thing she had and turned it on.
It was very quiet for a moment, then a sudden whoosh of air moving in and out of his lung. Zarina sighed in relief. "Okay. It'll remove air for a few hours until we get you some help. I can give you the pain medicine now."
She then took a new needle filled with some kind of medicine and injected it into the poor mans' arm. It must have worked quickly, because he relaxed almost at once.
Zarina collapsed onto the chair next to Solaris, took a deep breath, and then face him.
"Let me see." He offered her his arm where red was already seeping through the bandages. She unwrapped it, revealing the bleeding flesh.
"You're going to need stitches. I don't think it broke the bone. I can do them now." Solaris nodded, grimacing.
Zarina leant over her bag she had dragged with her and pulled out another needle and gloves. She changed her gloves and unwrapped the needle. She then lent in very close next to Solaris and pinched the skin near the bite tightly, and injected him.
Solaris felt his arm tingle, and then slowly go numb.
"Thanks." He said, nodding. Stark turned his attention to Solaris. "How exactly did you get bitten by a tiger?"
"There was a tiger. It didn't like me." He winced reflexively as Zarina put her needle for the stiches into his arm, but he relaxed as she got to work.
"What is a tiger doing on Florrum?" Stark asked, narrowing his eyes.
"It was my fault." Shane said suddenly. Stark turned around to face Shane. "What happened?"
"Well-,"
The door slid open, revealing Aldo. "We're leaving the atmosphere , strap in for hyperspace!"
Zarina waved her hand towards Shane. "Secure the Admiral and Tens. Use the straps. The chest tube should hold."
Zarina quickly finished with Solaris and tied and snipped the string. "Ten stiches. Ironic, no?" she smiled and laughed at her own joke while Solaris rolled his eyes. She used some new bandages and wrapped up him quickly before pinning it into place.
"Go to the cockpit, strap in." she ordered, Solaris dashed out quickly for someone who had just gotten bit by a tiger.
She got up and leant over Tens, who Shane hadn't gotten to yet, and pulled the black straps across his body, not putting the one that would go over his chest.
Shane had pulled a black strap across the Admiral's lap like a seat belt, as he refused to lay down.
"Go strap in!" Zarina ordered Stark and Shane, pointing towards the door. They both left. And she grabbed the counter next to Tens bed.
"You should go strap in, young lady." The Admiral said, nodding at Zarina, who smiled and shrugged. "I can't leave my patients. I'll be fine."
The ship jolted and Zarina could tell they had entered space.
"Hyperspace in ten!" Kellen called over the intercom, which he apparently didn't decide to use until now.
"If you pardon my asking, Admiral, how did you can crew get caught in this?"
He winked at her. "I could ask you the same thing. You did good saving the commander."
She glanced at Tens. "He's a commander? He doesn't look like it."
'You don't look like a doctor."
"True." She smiled.
There was the loud sound of gunfire for a moment and they were launched into hyperspace.
Sorry it's short! I want to give you guys another chapter before the New Year. I have like twenty minutes so it's just in time.
Don't worry about the parts I skipped. Those will be reveal next chapter *winks*
Question time!
Why was Solaris getting bitten by a tiger Shane's fault?
What do you think of Maree's backstory? What's the story behind her bracelet?
Does Stark seem like a prick? (He does to me)
Will Tens survive the trip to the Galactic Republic?
What happened during the rescue and what happened with Aldo and Maree?
Normally I'd reply to reviews here but I've got to go. Peace out, have a great new year! Eat your 12 grapes and where all the white you can! :D
Peace and Mist,
Rlb190
