"Luckily, I put a data pad in here with detailed maps," Aric said, patting his pack. "Let's see how we might get around this area and back on track for the waystation. We'll need to find a safe place to stay the night, the animals from the zoo were released here and a lot of them, well, you don't want to find in the dark." The gathered around the Cathar, and decided to go west, away from the tanks of irradiated water that were to the east of their position. There should be some buildings there, Aric thought, for shelter.
Miriah told them all to gather close. "My stealth generator will cover us all, as long as we stay in a 10 meter range." She clicked it on and they moved out, clumsy at first at walking in such close proximity, but getting the hang of it. They managed to get across the courtyard and turn left, when Miriah stopped suddenly, pointing ahead of her. Patrol droids, the kind that can see through the shield the stealth generator made. She motioned to her right, and they eased their way around the patrol. The walked slowly but steadily, and reached an area that appeared deserted, with several buildings for shelter.
When they got inside, they all were glad to put their packs down and stretch. "I don't know how you two do that for long," Magdalane said, referring to the crouched position forced by the limits of the stealth generator.
"Beats the hell out of getting shot at," Miriah replied. Corso nodded his agreement, but saw that Miriah was beyond tired. She needs rest and food, he thought, she never ate last night and hasn't today. They each got out field rations, and sat down to eat. Felix, bless him, had thought to put a small lamp in his gear. It wasn't cold right now, but it would be later, and Corso was glad they had a couple of blankets.
Miriah lay down with her head on Corso's thigh, and fell asleep immediately, her food untouched. Maybe I'll let her sleep for a few minutes, then get her to eat something, he thought. Mags noticed she hadn't eaten as well, and gave Corso a worried look, but her force scan showed nothing amiss other than the alarmingly low red cell count. Corso gently tugged on her pony tail, and she opened her eyes.
"Tonight, you have to eat, love, or I'm going to let Mags here run more tests on you, " he teased. She smiled at him, and sat up, making a face at the field rations. Corso turned to his pack, lifted out a vacuum packed square. "You eat at least half of that," he said, "and you get this chocolate bar I just happened to throw in here this morning."
"See? This is why I love this man!" she beamed. "He doesn't feel threatened by my love for chocolate!"
They all laughed, relaxing a bit from the stressful day. Felix, who never said a whole lot, just looked around at the people gathered there. This would have made a great combat unit, he thought. He'd offered to take first watch, so after they ate and cleared the trash, they all tried to figure out the best way to stay warm. Mags and Felix had a blanket, and Corso and Miriah had one. Aric had one, but said he wouldn't use it, his fur kept him quite warm. Corso unlatched his chest plate, pulled Miriah onto his lap, and stretched out his legs. He knew she was always cold, and since she'd lost so much blood she'd been even colder. At least this way, she'd be warm and not lying on the stone floor, he thought. Mags looked over at them in the corner, and was thankful that her sister had someone who cared so much about her.
They all tried to rest, but Miriah was the only one, ironically, that actually slept. When Corso got up for his watch duty, she didn't even move from where he'd gently put her down on the blanket. When the sunlight through the cracks in the walls woke them, they quickly got their gear together to move out, hoping to be back on the Stardancer soon.
They decided to try moving without the stealth generator, and they were making progress when shots rang out from overhead. Another sniper, and this time Felix had more difficulty getting the kill shot, taking a bolt in the arm in the process. It wasn't too bad, and Magdalane had it healing almost before he noticed it. They crept forward, from cover to cover, then spotted the unit the sniper had been covering.
Miriah held up both hands, flashed all her fingers again, then four. Twenty -four Imperial troops. She sighed to herself, trying to think of the best option. She glanced at Corso, who shrugged. Aric was bringing up the rear, and motioned them to move back.
"The only other option really isn't an option at all, "he said, "The irradiated lake over there is the only way around them. We'll just have to…."
They heard the shouts of the troops who'd just found the dead sniper, and knew time was short until they'd be fanned out, looking for them. Miriah had an idea, "Let's wait til they send scout parties out looking for us, then we infiltrate the main camp and wait for the scouts to come back." It wasn't an ideal plan, but at least it allowed them some control.
They huddled together with the stealth generator softly humming, waiting for their chance, Felix on the roof of a building nearby, watching the camp through a sniper scope. They heard two clicks in their relays, and waited for Felix to join them before moving forward.
There were only three left in camp. Miriah and Corso quickly took them down, dragging the bodies over to a tent. Then they settled in to wait, Aric monitoring the comms from the scout parties. They didn't have to wait long. A party of five strolled into the camp, joking and laughing until they realized the camp appeared deserted. Aric started the party with his cannon, Felix and Miriah took out the stragglers on the edge of the group, Corso finished the injured in the middle. Nice, he thought, that wasn't too bad. They didn't have time to move that group when the second scout group showed up, having heard the fire from the first party's demise.
They'd just engaged the second group when both the third and fourth groups showed up. At that point, there was no thought, just combat. They'd taken down about half of them, when Aric shouted, "Need help here!"
Miriah looked around her, at the dead and dying, and finally located the Cathar to her left. He didn't have a fatal injury but was far enough from where Mags stood that she couldn't direct healing to him. Miriah hurried over to him, and seeing that his leg was where the wound was, helped him stand and leaned him against her small frame.
"No, Miriah, just shoot me with some kolto and I'll be fine," he told her.
"No way, I'm not incurring the wrath of Maura," she grinned at him, "Let's go, soldier." She practically dragged him through the casualties, aching with fatigue but determined to get him to Mags for proper healing. About halfway there, she saw him raise his sidearm and shoot , and saw an Imp fall in front of her. By the time she put him on the ground next to her sister, her head was swimming and she felt like her limbs weighed a ton each. Mags saw she was struggling, and infused her with a slow release heal, just to take the edge off her fatigue. Miriah smiled at her, then resumed combat.
When the hours long fight ended, they sat in one of the tents, exhausted and dazed. Even Mag's brilliant aura seemed dim. Miriah had never felt so tired in her life, and she and Corso sat leaning on each other. His armor bore the marks of more than a few near misses, just like the other two guys. Aric was sitting quietly, unusual for him, but he was trying to give his leg a little rest. Felix was out looking around the area, then he turned to the group with a puzzled look on his face.
"Miriah, didn't you say there were twenty-four? When you saw them?" he asked. She had to think for a minute, but replied, "Yes, twenty- four."
Felix sat down heavily in the dirt, and looked at the group, "There's only twenty-three here. There's someone still out there, and my guess is that they're going for reinforcements." They had no choice now, they had to move again.