A.N. ~ yes! Got this one up quickly! I don't want to get any hopes up, but at least now I've figuratively figured out which way is up and which way is down.
When the detonators went off, nothing was in Twitch's mind besides running as quickly as possible for the exit while dodging bats and falling debris. Survival was her only concern, but making it over two hundred meters over a floor comprised of different rocks and avoiding falling ones made that difficult.
Not a thought entered her brain, just the sound of her heart pounding in her ears as she raced for freedom. The sight of the last white-armored man leaving pushed her harder, but fear coursed in when the exit's mouth collapsed.
Looking up, the captain saw a large boulder about to fall directly where she was going and she skidded to a halt, jumping onto a rock that's surface was angled diagonally upwards, pushing off, and hand-springing to safety.
The screaming of the flying beasts rose over cracking stone, either full of pain or panic. None tried attacking her, too focused on living. But they also seemed to be dissolving into shadow, leaving nothing behind.
A small glow of triumph entered the soldier's heart before another wave of terror shot through her as a huge chunk of the ceiling crashed down only a few feet in front of her, sending rocks of varying sizes flying everywhere. One slammed into the teenager's stomach, knocking her back.
Twitch lay, gasping for breath and trying to numb out the aching pain in her abdomen. Her limbs shook with exhaustion, and looking up, she saw one of the few remaining bats diving toward her. Just as the monster filled her vision, it faded into blackness, revealing another large stone dropping towards her.
The girl sat up and stumbled away, crying out when some of the hard shrapnel hit her back. Her legs gave out and she looked up, wanting to know if she was going to die.
Twitch? Twitch! Hey, are you alright? Hey! Tail yelled in her head.
You don't have to shout, I'm not brain-dead, she replied with a weak smile, screwing her eyes shut as a nearby mound of dirt exploded apart on impact with the floor, spraying her face.
Are you okay? I can feel you're hurt. What's happening in there? Her brother sounded just as scared as she felt.
Yeah, got hit with some debris. Stuff is still falling, too. Not on top of me, at least. Hey, the bats disappeared, Twitch focused on their link, on the scout's mind and his familiar presence. It kept her calm.
That's good. Can you get out? How badly are you injured?
The tunnel out is sealed. I'm going to need help. I don't know what's wrong, I just hurt. Got hit in the stomach with a rock and some stones got my back. What about you and the others, is everyone alright? Another piece of debris began falling, either going to land on top of the veteran or near enough to threaten serious damage.
This time, she crawled away, taking cover behind a small outcropping. It curved slightly on top of her, offering far more protection than what she'd had moments before. Looking out, Twitch could watch for any threats safely, thankful that the dust wasn't too thick.
All who survived the battle are accounted for. Except the suicidal little sister!
Still able to play the role of big brother in a bad situation. And once again, it's not necessarily a suicide mission! I'm still alive, and the amount of osik nearly crushing me is starting to go down. You know, I'm still going to live through this, and then we're having a chat about yelling at each other in dangerous situations. The small bit of humor was normal. The teenager always tried joking to comfort her friends when things looked grim.
She noticed a small falling island of dirt and stone about to crash down around fifteen feet in front of where she was and vaulted back over the outcropping, crouching as she waited out the miniature storm of sailing hard bits.
Great. Can't wait to hear it. I'll tell the captain you're still alive and in need of a medic. And still insane. That was a good sign, Tail returning a joke.
'Kay. Oh, kriff! The captain began staggering away from where she'd been, avoiding yet another boulder. I hate gravity! She was heaving for breath, nearly being taken over by the same blind panic that had dominated her first few minutes after the explosion.
Twitch? Kid, you okay? Tail asked.
Who're you calling 'kid', kid? She retorted with a slight huff of amusement. In everything short of biology, she often considered herself the older of the two. She did, after all, have more years to her life and more experience.
Oh, yeah, you're fine. Shorty. That struck a nerve.
Do you really want to get into a nicknaming game? Because I promise you, I have a wider vocabulary. The gentle joking reassured the girl. It gave a sense of normalcy when she knew she could easily be dead any second.
I want to live! Noo! Twitch laughed – actually laughed with her life on the line – at the older clone's tone.
Twitch waited, curled in the indent of several boulders in the fetal position, one arm wrapped around her aching stomach and the other hand toying with Tail's dog tag. She was simply waiting for someone to drill into the cave.
With just one person breathing lightly, she wasn't too afraid of suffocation, just any loose pieces of the ceiling that may be shaken loose.
The sound of the stones shifting lifted her head, but it was just the ones at the exit, being knocked to the side before several white-and-red men and differently-dressed girls rushed in, one of the older clones marked with black.
The captain struggled to her feet, dropping onto her hands and knees before bracing herself and getting up a second time, this time remaining upward.
Tail and another medic rushed over, the former attempting to help support her weight before a momentary glare yanked his hands away. The second didn't even try running such a risk.
"You're insane, you know that?" The commando growled.
"Yeah, save it for when I'm well-fed and not tired. Then maybe I'll give a kriff." He swatted her head lightly as they walked, and when the second medic began unfolding an antigrav gurney, but the teenager shook her head. "I'll walk." Another, more forceful whack from her brother-by-choice got a muttered line in Mando'a that was thankfully too low to be heard properly.
"You'd be crawling by the end of it. I'll pull rank if I have to." Tail warned.
"You're such a jerk sometimes. I'm fine, just bruised." A sharp poke from the man had her doubled over, clutching her abdomen and moaning several expletives. "I really hate you for that." She wheezed.
"Yeah, yeah, save it for when I'm well-fed and not tired." He rolled his shoulders. A hard thwack to the veteran's back drew out a strangled groan that was quickly cut off. Songbird and Steam, the medic of the two grabbing her fiery sister's arm with a scowl, had walked over.
"Di'kut, you do not hit someone with possible internal bleeding!" The musical girl snapped.
"Trust me, Song, if I were bleeding like that—"
"You'd still be trying to walk a mile uphill." Tail interrupted.
"Okay, true. But I'm fine!"
"For the love of Force, just start walking!" Steam sighed, grabbing the captain's arm before beginning to march away, dragging her along.
"Thanks," Twitch murmured as the three medics watched them leave, two calling abuse in Mando'a after them.
"We tough patients have to stick together," the hothead grinned.
"I'm—"
"Don't you dare say you're alright! Those bruises indicate you actually might have internal bleeding, and I'm not taking any chances!" Songbird basically howled the words, yanking her CO towards Military District's large medical bay.
"I've be in worse con—okay, never mind. I've been able to handle internal bleeding for a time."
"'For a time' isn't the same as 'I won't drop over after a few hours'. Now GET IN THERE!" They entered the medical bay and the younger girl sat her sister down on a bed, making the captain roll up her shirt, just high enough to make the bruises easily accessible.
"I saw that wince." The thirteen-year-old muttered as she smeared cold bacta over Twitch's abdomen.
"Oh, shut up and do your job."
Twitch cringed as she sat down with Tail in a cantina. They'd made a bet with a few of the men in the 659th that the plan would work and both of them would make it out alive, earning a few credits that had been saved from after the first Clone War ended, when the GAR soldiers had been released from duty.
Now they were planning to have some food while they caught up. Food that wasn't from a mess hall.
"You really are an insane di'kut. And you're not going to learn any lesson through physical pain, are you?" He sighed.
"Nope. By the way, we spent six months undercover as students on Mandalore. Worst half year ever."
"Well, guess that just proves you aren't a normal teenager. Not that that needed testing."
"No kidding. But what've you been doing lately?" Before the scout could reply, a large Quarren man walked over and began talking.
"Hey, kid, this meat can bothering you?" She opened her mouth, but the stranger turned to face Tail with extremely hostile body language. "You leave her alone, got it, freak?" The captain suddenly stood, forcing her way between the man and her brother.
"Beat. It." She growled in a low, threatening voice.
"If by 'it', you mean the Fake Fett, gladly." That flared the teenager's temper and she grabbed the alien's mouth tentacles, yanking him painfully to eye-level.
"Call him one more insulting name, and I will carve you up like a pumpkin and watch your guts spill onto the floor." With that, she released him and sat down, grabbing a napkin to wipe her wet hand on.
The Quarren shivered and stalked away, looking over his shoulder once with large eyes.
"I had that." Tail joked.
"Right, you were just about to talk him down with mime movements."
"Exactly." The medic raised his chin in an arrogant fashion.
"Bite me." They grinned and waited for their food quietly, pretending to be interested in different things while they actually were mentally sharing experiences. A kind of mutual flow of information to each other that they could watch like holovids.
It took a surprisingly short amount of time for over six months of experiences to be shared, but at least it was long enough to distract them until their food showed up.
Kat and Claws boredly strolled towards the Hunter's gym, one planning to sleep and the other going to go a few rounds with Ranger.
"Think I should warn him how bored I am?" The teenager mumbled. A huff and shake of head indicated her companion's indifference. "I see you still worry about his survival. Great to know." A purr was the reply.
They walked into the gym, meeting Ranger and his nexu, who he'd named Shadow, due to her rapidly darkening fur. The cub nosed her mother with a squawk of greeting, mrowing in indignation as the older feline tumbled her over playfully.
"Alright, s—" A shaking boom rattled the ship, knocking a few off-balance men over and making everyone freeze. The girl and her friend, both followed by the predators, ran into the hallway to see a boarding ship. "Stang! Is that what I think it is?" Kat snapped.
"Yep. We need to get to the nearest weapons locker." Thankfully, one was near the room, a wise precaution since so many likely unarmed troops would be in the gym.
"Boarding ship. Everybody to the armory!" Kat shouted, just as alarms began blaring. She had left her gauntlets and guns in her quarters, not as paranoid as Twitch when it came to when an attack could come.
B1s were starting to unload, but strangely enough, so were soldiers clearly human.
A.N. ~ brownie points to whoever caught the Star Trek: Voyager line.
MANDO'A DEFINITIONS AND PRONUNCIATIONS:
Osik: [OH-sik] dung (impolite)
