Chapter Five
Day One Hundred and Three: Love and War
The Nova was currently stationed above Coruscant, its crew just large enough to make sure its systems stayed running, and everyone else on shore leave. This included the commando squads such as Fallout Squad, and even Shadow Team, who were relieved of their guard duty by the Senate Guard. It was rumored that while there, Thowel was to be promoted to Fleet Admiral, an accommodation he basically already had, but was now being made official.
While they were on Coruscant, Thowel was meeting first with the Chancellor to go over the ceremony, and then the ceremony itself, which would be held in front of the Senate. To Wraith and his squad's surprise, they had been invited, along with Shadow Team, to attend. Until then however, they were to stay on Coruscant and do whatever was required of them by the commanding officers they had been assigned to.
Currently, they had been tasked with investigating a series of disturbances in the Industrial District, and were currently in one of several large office buildings in construction. The levels they were searching weren't close to being finished, the stairs and framing of the structure the only things done. Even the floor and wiring wasn't complete. Moving through, Fallout Squad was much farther up in the building than Shadow Team, having been tasked to start from the middle and go up, while Stone's men went from the bottom up.
Wraith was moving down a corridor, ready for anything that may happen, but walking in a state of comfort. Even if there was something here, the chances of it being really dangerous, in this area of the district, was very low. Most likely it was some low-time mechanics or such stealing supplies they couldn't afford. He hadn't gotten anything but "all-clears" from the rest of his squad the entire time, all of which were spread out.
Wraith was the highest up in the building, being only four floors from the top. Treading carefully, he paid mind to the holes in the floor, not wanting to find out the hard way how long the fall was. Moving towards the stairs, he was about to call in another "all-clear" when he saw movement. Stopping and dropping to a crouch, he peered through the darkness to try to recognize what he was seeing. Switching the mode on his visor to see better, he saw a slight, skinny figure in armor shuffling through a tool box.
Standing, he yelled out, "Hey you! Stop right there!"
The figure turned for a moment, then bolted up the stairs, moving faster than Wraith thought they would. Giving chase, Wraith maintained his distance to the target, but didn't gain on it. Leading him through each floor, the chase ended on the final floor. There was no roof access to this building, due to the odd shape of the roof itself. However, right now large pieces of the roof weren't in place yet, and moonlight and the light of the city washed in illuminating his target, which had turned to meet him.
Despite his training and his discipline, his breath caught in his throat. The figure standing across the way from him was a female, and a rather curvy, attractive one at that. The woman looked to be in her twenties, around the same biological age as the clones. Brunette, brown eyes, and a stern face, the woman was quite simply a knockout to the commando. Part of this was because the only females he had ever encountered were some of the officers on the Nova, and they were no lookers.
The woman was wearing dark green Mandolorian armor, and at least one weapon was visible, a blaster pistol sitting in a drop leg holster on her right thigh. She hadn't drawn it however, which surprised Wraith, but set him on even higher alert. But what surprised him most, was her lack of an aggressive, or even defensive, stance. She was standing slightly bent at the waist, her hands on her knees, breathing heavily from the mad dash through the three lower floors. She was also looking straight at him, more curiosity than fear or anger in her eyes.
The object she had taken was in her hand, an industrial-grade fusion cutter. The tool was rather expensive on the market, meant for use on starships and large military vehicles. They were also useful for cutting through heavy durasteel plating used in construction. Whatever the reason, she had stolen it from that toolbox, and he had to at least find out why.
"Now look," Wraith began, his voice cautious, "I don't want to hurt you. What are you doing, stealing tools in a place like this? Surely with armor like that, you have the money to buy one of 'em.
"The armor is an heirloom," she responded. She seemed to be studying his armor as well, and some amusement sparkled in her eyes as well as the curiosity noted before.
"I see. Well, I'm afraid I can't let you take that ma'am. If you just hand it over, I'll let you go peacefully," Wraith said, lowering his weapon a bit, its barrel aimed at the floor, but ready to snap up at a moment's notice.
"And why should I give it back?" she asked with some humor.
"It's not yours," the simple reply came, "And who ever owns it will probably miss it."
"Who said I won't return it once I'm done?"
At this, Wraith paused. It was still theft, but now she was making it sound as if she only needed it temporarily. Deep down, he didn't care one way or another. In fact, he was rather annoyed that they had commandos sweeping buildings like petty police troops. As he thought about it, the woman slowly stood to her full height, which was still about five inches shorter than the commando.
"What's your name?" Wraith inquired, trying to at least start some kind of file.
"Why does that matter?" she responded, sounding rather teasing, "Does the soldier have a crush on the rule breaker?"
The comment surprised Wraith in two ways. For one, the woman was showing complete ease around him, a trait he'd only seen shared with other commandos and Admiral Thowel himself. For another thing, she was actually mocking him, or so he thought. Part of him was still trying to assess whether she was a foe, and her light-hearted tone was making that difficult. He had no orders to fire in the case he found someone, just apprehend them. He had done that. Now what?
"Ma'am, I just need your name," he tried again.
"I see," she said, her smile still present. "Well, I suppose I could tell you. What's the harm? Aisha Thara at your service soldier."
Wraith nodded, his gaze scanning her again for any more visible weapons, and again only seeing the blaster pistol. Scanning his surroundings, Wraith kept his head still, but his kept eyes moving, making it seem as if he was staring at Thara.
Mistaking the gaze, she joked, "See anything you like there buddy? I thought I was being arrested, not checked out."
This snapped his attention back to her, who had still not tried to go anywhere. He was starting to get rather worried. Why had she led him up here?
"I'll ask again, please return that fusion cutter," 1112 said, attempting to gain headway.
"And I told you, I'll do so when I'm done with it. What's so hard about that?" she asked, still smiling.
At this point, Wraith was itching to call his squad up here, but something made him hesitate. And it wasn't the girl. It was something else. Something outside of the building. Looking up, he noticed the smile had slid off of Thara's face, and she was looking out of one of the unfinished windows. Then her head snapped back to the soldier.
"Why did you have to hold me up so long," she said, fear starting to enter her voice, "Now they've found me!
"Found you? What are you talki-," Wraith started to ask before a loud explosion was heard, and he felt the floor beneath him drop.
Falling, Wraith started bouncing off of structural supports, and he attempted to slow his decent by grabbing some of these things, finally coming to a stop six floors down, Wraith groaned as he rolled off of his back, and pushed himself up, looking around. Seeing a hole in the floor that wasn't there when he first had travelled this floor, he staggered over and peered through, drawing his DC-15S as he did. During whatever had just happened, he'd lost track of his DC-17M. Peering down, he could see the girl faintly stirring, and after hesitating a moment and looking around, dropped down.
Landing a few meters away from her, he approached with caution. She however didn't stop him, and upon looking her over, he saw why. She had broken one of her legs, and badly, judging by how messed up her leg looked in the armor set. After looking her over, he made a decision and holstered her sidearm, grabbing her by the arm and lifting her up, putting her over his shoulder. Stumbling towards the stairs, he could hear heavy chatter on his helmet comms as his squad mates and Shadow Team tried to figure out what just happened. Then himself get addressed.
"Sir? Sir do you hear me? This is Slugger. Are you alright?"
Responding, Wraith answered, "I'm fine. Just a little shaken. Do you have a visual on what caused that?"
"Yes sir," Slugger confirmed, filling Wraith with pride. "It was a small ship that fired torpedoes into the structure below the second-to-top floor. It's circling now."
"Alright. I'm coming down with a female, Mandolorian by the looks of it. She was stealing a fusion cutter. Got a name. She said something that hints to them gunning for her."
"Understood sir. Ground level is secure, and we're waiting for you."
"I'm almost there. Just wait up," Wraith said, ending the talk.
Continuing down the stairs, 1112 carried the girl the entire way, her body lighter than he thought it would have been. He figured that she couldn't weigh more than one hundred-fifty pounds. As he moved, she started to stir, groaning in both pain and confusion. Realizing what was happening; she tried to slide off, only to be held steady by the commando.
"Hey, get off me you brute! This is NOT how you treat a woman!" she started yelling. She then yelled in pain as she attempted to kick him with her broken leg, and realized why she was being carried.
"I'll let you go when an EVAC shows up," Wraith said, "But not until you tell me who the hell those people were."
"The Death Watch? You've got to be kidding me," she said in surprise, wincing in pain. "Everyone knows who they are."
"Death Watch on Coruscant? What did they want with you?"
"Something about their leader not liking my family. They already killed my mother and brother."
Arriving on the ground level floor, both fell silent as the other three members of Fallout Squad saw Wraith and ran over, Dragoon shouting towards Shadow Team. As the two squads regrouped around Wraith and Thara, Shadow Team's "medic", Prints, stepped forward and produced a kit of medical gear. After Wraith set her down, Prints began treating her leg. The rest of the commandos gave them some space while Wraith told them what happened.
"You're telling me that the Death Watch, a wannabe Mandolorian clan, is hunter that girl?" Stone asked, doubt laced in his words.
"I'm not telling you that, she is," Wraith responded, having the same doubts as his counterpart.
They both looked over to the girl, who seemed to be having a rather lively conversation with Prints. Other than that, she looked fine. Prints had done about all he could to fix up her leg. The rest would be up to a treatment center.
"Sir!" Data yelled over, "That ship is coming back. We need to get out of here."
"Understood," Wraith said, turning so that everyone could hear him. "Commandos, move for the landing pad, now!"
The commandos all scrambled, including Shadow Team. Even if Wraith wasn't their squad leader, he was still one of the two senior men there, and new how to lead just as well as Stone did. As they ran out of the building, Wraith hit several buttons on the wrist of his armor, signaling for an evac.
Arriving at the pad, they all took defensive positions, getting in cover. As they did, the sound of the approaching ship grew louder, and suddenly, it was in view. The ship's design was unfamiliar to the commandos, but what wasn't was the sound of blaster cannons charging up. Right before the small ship opened fire however, the whine of turbolasers was heard, and looking up, the two squads saw Fallout Squad's LAAT screaming by overhead, its guns blazing at the smaller ship. After several hits, the ship broke off, weaving between some buildings as it left.
The LAAT circled in the air a few more times, and then began to descend. Bug, the pilot, was visibly high-fiving his co-pilot, both of which were cheering about their quick rescue. The gunship landed on the ground with the doors opened, and Shadow Team boarded first, Prints dragging Aisha Thara with him. Fallout Squad followed up behind them, the doors closing after they were on. Once they were in the air, Wraith turned once more on Thara, much more aggressive than he had been before.
"I'll ask you one more damn time girl, and you better answer. Why the hell was the Death Watch here?"
Thara hesitated, realizing the time for a joking response was long gone. Thinking carefully, she started to speak.
"I suppose because they despise any Mandolorian that openly supports the Republic. Like my mother. Like my brother."
"And you?" Slugger asked, turning to look at the Mandolorian woman.
"Well, I have no love for the Death Watch, and droids don't exactly make the best travelling companions," the reply came, a teasing tone starting to enter her voice again.
At this, the men fell silent, finished with their small interrogation. Staying quiet until the LAAT landed, they encountered no more trouble. They let the woman leave without any charges, and as she sauntered away, she turned and blew a mocking kiss at Wraith, then turned and ran off, laughing hysterically as she did so. The only thing Wraith could wonder was how a woman like her had survived as long as she did with her attitude. Then he turned and returned to the LAAT, ready for the next assignment.
Several blocks away, Aisha Thara was walking into an ally, meeting someone she had so far only talked to via a secure HoloNet link. Waiting in the predesignated spot, the man appeared after several moments, dressed in all black armor.
"You know, up until that ship came into sight, I thought you were bluffing about who you were," she said with a small smile.
"You didn't give it away?" the man asked seriously.
"No Mister "R.I.D." I didn't. And that little device you gave actually worked. I'd say that clone was quiet…interested."
"That was the test. We know that ARC units are almost completely free-thinking. We needed to know the extent of the RC units' thoughts. Finding out what emotions they can feel was the first step to that."
"Uh huh," Thara said, growing bored. "Just tell me this. Am I gonna see that guy again? Or was this a one-and-done kinda thing?"
"What you do on your own is no longer our concern. You will no longer be contacted by us. You will find that the credits have been wired into your account already. Have a good evening."
And just like that, the man was gone, leaving a rather bemused Mandolorian woman behind. After a moment, she shrugged and walked back onto the main street, chuckling to herself. The Death Watch thing wasn't part of the plan really. She had already known that it was that shady man's people in the ship, but she had to make the story seem a bit real right? The part with her mother and brother were true, though that stuff had happened years ago. Shaking her head, she continued on her way, trying to put the thought of the two squads out of her head.
Meanwhile, the same two squads, along with the rest of the Nova's usual garrison, had been recalled to the ship. Something major had come up, and the ship was getting underway. Thowel had received his promotion, but his ceremony would have to wait. It was time to re-enter the war.