I'm going to stop mistreating everyone soon, promise. I'll even do it in this chapter (which is a doosy in terms of the word count but I wanted to end it on a high note after the last three/four chapters.) I swear to you that it gets less harrowing in this chapter. In fact I think it's down right mushy by the end!
Summary of Ch. 13: Uthull tortures Thena for information. Kom'rk appears and shoots the bastard. He gets Thena up and they attempt an escape. Unfortunately, Uthull's been genetically modifying himself with Gen'Dai (does this speak to a latent hypocrisy in his racism/speciesim toward Thena? Yes, yes it does.) This means he's not dead and able to detach his limbs into revolting tentacle like appendages to attack Kom'rk and Thena (for visual see Durge in the 1st Clone Wars cartoon circa 2003). Kom'rk attempts to stop him but even Null level badassery proves insufficient. He and Thena run for it but not before Uthull grabs Thena's arm with a tentacle/hand. Thena makes Kom'rk close the blast door on the arm, severing it.
There's blood everywhere. The bottom of the steps are slick with it. It rests in quivering puddles at the base of the stairwell. Kom'rk's slumped against the wall opposite the control panel for the blast door. The underlayer of his armor is shiny-wet with his blood. When his helmet comes off he's barely conscious, coughing weakly and aspirating red all down his chin.
Thena isn't moving at all. She's curled in a ball around her horrifically truncated right arm. Her skin is the dirty grey color of old snow, punctuated by streaks of deep maroon where her purplish blood has mixed with Kom'rk's. Her hair is damp with it. She's still partly wrapped Kom'rk's duster which drips when Gregor picks her up. She doesn't respond, no eye movement, no pulse. Her body's cold in his arms. His heart is cold in his chest.
He'd ground Arricnak's speeder to a halt at the coordinates Kom'rk had sent seconds after Prudii touched down. They run into the derelict testing center side by side, neither speaking. There are two bodies along the hall. Both in black fatigues, both taken by twin shots to the chest and third to the head. Kom'rk's signature. There is one open door containing another black fatigued corpse and the badly beaten but still conscious Rassilion Livvet. Gregor almost shoots him before Prudii grabs his elbow.
"We need him ner vod."
Gregor tries to wrest his arm out of the Null's grip. Prudii doesn't budge.
"We're wasting time." The Null reasons. Gregor stands down.
"He goes with Mereel. Not with us." Gregor snarls. Prudii nods.
Then they're running again, to the end of the hall, following the trace smell of discharged blasters, ozone and seared flesh. When they get to the stairs it's impossible to see the bottom, even with enhanced HUD capabilities. There's a pall of foul smell smoke hanging at the bottom. Prudii leads, forcing Gregor to move deliberately rather than race headlong to the bottom like he wants to.
He's seen some terrible things on the battlefield. Some so bad they drove him insane, forced him to forget everything down to who he was. Prudii's probably seen nearly as bad and maybe worse. The scene at the bottom of the stairs still gives them pause. It's the blood, the positive lake of blood and the low, insistent banging coming from the other side of the sealed blast door that sticks in Gregor's brain.
Prudii heads straight for Kom'rk; Gregor for Thena. Kom'rk isn't coherent and, judging by the wet sucking noise that's passing for his breathing his lung is collapsing. He and Thena need to be in full bacta immersion immediately. There's no time to guess at what's behind the door or worry about the trail of dead they're leaving in their wake. Prudii slings Kom'rk over his back and Gregor lifts Thena. As he follows the Null back to the commandeered Republic pinace he prays to whatever entity in the universe that might be listening.
Gregor wakes with a start, still seeing Kom'rk and Thena lying lifeless in a lake of blood. The air in the room's clammy and hot. He struggles out of the sweat soaked sheets and stumbles to the aircon unit, turning it all the way up and letting the barely cool air dry the sweat on his torso. The chrono on the crate next to his cot read 0300. The light from outside was the same artifical blue glow accented by semi-regular neon pulses as it was at 1500. Such were the underlevels of the massive, capital planet-city.
He doesn't bother putting on a shirt when he exited the room. There's hardly anyone here to be scandalized by him wandering the halls in nothing but a pair of loose pants. All the biologic staff are gone until what passes for dawn and there's only about half a dozen anyway. Travel to triple zero was heavily restricted these days. Mostly he runs into maintenance and lower caste med-droids.
He pushes open the door to the observation ward, as it's been dubbed, and takes a moment. Thena's curled up on the bed nearest the busted holo-mural. It flashes a little as it shifts between scenes of tropical beaches and rolling, forested hills. Those are the only images in it repertoire anymore but no one complains. The alternative is more unrelieved, custard colored slagcrete wall. She's alone on the ward. Kom'rk was here until last week but he finally got too cantankerous and was declared healthy by the Doc and thrown out.
Gregor slips down the line of five empty beds to stand next to hers. After a moment she stirs, rolls over and opens her eyes. With a soft smile she raises one arm. He slips under the sheet, pulling her close. She seems hollow boned in his arms, light as air. He has to suppress the urge to crush her to his chest just to make sure she doesn't float off. The Doc had ordered her hair clipped down almost to the scalp to remove the need to clean it during her recovery. It's growing back silvery white, giving her skull a sort of ethereal glow in the shifting light of the mural. He, by contrast, has grown almost as shaggy as he had been on Abafar in the past seven weeks.
He's careful not to brush too hard against the bluish whorls across her ribs. They're healed but Thena's shy about letting anyone but the Doc touch them much. She sighs softly and rests her head on his chest.
"The Doc'll throw things at you he finds you in here again." She says, but makes no move to push him out of bed.
"I'm a highly trained black-operations specialist. I think I can dodge one angry Verpine."
She huffs out a chuckle. There's no other sound on the ward but their breathing for a long time after that. Thena dozes against him as he gently strokes her new, cybernetic arm. There hadn't been a synthflesh model available here in 487 Sector. Most of the residents in what they informally called the Invisible Sector were non-human. Most synthflesh cybernetics, at least on Coruscant, were designed with wealthier human patrons in mind. So the arm was faced with a rosy-gold alloy, but it was all top of the line, fully as functional as the original limb the Doc had assured them.
Thena had pronounced herself perfectly happy with it when she'd woken up but Gregor's caught her stroking it sadly several times. She refuses to tell him if it's out of disappointment with the appearance of the limb or leftover trauma from her experiences on Kirvella. He suspects the later. It's like she wants to stay marked for some reason. Like how she's refused any kind of scar tissue removal or grafts on the marks Uthull gave her.
"Maybe we'll finally piss the Doc off enough to declare me cured." Thena says. Gregor hums non-comittally as he traces each of her metal fingers.
"You feel up to leaving?" He finally asks. She shrugs.
"I guess. It's weirdly lonely without Kom'rk and Jaing causing a riot every ten minutes. "
"At least you have air-con in here. The unit in mine's older than half the buildings in this sector. I think it's terminal, poor thing."
He feels her smile against his chest.
"Yeah, but I can barely sleep anymore. I'm used to all the company." He feels more than hears her whisper.
Both Jaing and Gregor had slept in chairs on the ward for the first week until it was certain that both Kom'rk and Thena were out of danger. Even after they'd worn out the patience of the Doc and his droid staff they stayed. Thena and Kom'rk both had nightmares that seemed to worsen as their bodies recovered.
Gregor had taken to sleeping perched on the edge of her bed as direct contact seemed to calm her. Though her thrashing often meant he woke up in the midst of a fall to the floor. Jaing had attempted something similar with Kom'rk, though the two Nulls couldn't begin to fit onto one, narrow cot. Instead he slept bent over in a chair, his head against his brother's chest. The problem was, while Kom'rk seemed able to tolerate Jaing next to him, he tended to lash out violently should anyone try to touch him after he'd fallen asleep. More than once Gregor had been thrown to the ground when he tried to shake the Null awake. Both patients adamantly refused to be sedated though, even when the Doc observed that their lack of rest was hindering their recovery.
It had been Prudii who'd suggested the solution. He'd been drifting in and out of the underground clinic ever since he'd dropped them off. One particularly bad night he'd suggested they try a trick the Nulls had used on Kamino when there were storms. Kom'rk and Jaing had both immediately agreed. Thena had been exhaustedly willing to try anything, though Gregor was skeptical.
But it had worked. Prudii and Jaing had pulled Thena and Kom'rk's pallets onto the floor and instructed Gregor to grab a third from an unoccupied bed. Shoving the empty frames out of the way the two healthy Nulls proceeded to make a sort of nest in the far corner of the room. Then Jaing lay down, back to the wall. Kom'rk gingerly flopped down beside him and beckoned Thena. She'd hesitated until Gregor took her hand and laid down with her. She'd tucked herself into his chest, back to Kom'rk. Prudii had settled on the edge of the pile, laying politely on his back next to Gregor, arms crossed over his chest.
The Nulls had all dropped off almost instantly, clearly finding this sort of arrangement comforting. Thena wasn't long behind them. She was probably too tired to worry about whether or not this joint-sleeping seemed strange. Gregor had lain awake for a long time listening to the steady breathing of the group around him. He wasn't used to being so close to this many people anymore but there was a ghostly ache that told him this had once been much more normal. He couldn't remember but this felt good, this closeness. Even with Thena here he felt like part of a larger unit, felt like he had brothers at last. He'd kept himself up most of the night savoring the sensation.
The Doc had nearly blown an ostia when he'd seen what they'd done to his ward in the morning. But he'd calmed himself when the ward-droid reported that the patients had had 32% fewer disturbances during their dormant period due to the unorthodox sleeping arrangements. Though he insisted they put the pallets back on the bed each morning he'd said nothing else when they did it again the next night. For the next five weeks Gregor had slept tangled up with Thena, Kom'rk, Jaing and Prudii whenever he dropped in. No one had had nightmares.
But Kom'rk's gone as of 0730 eight days ago and Jaing with him. Prudii hadn't been around since their departure either. They're on their own again.
She stretches a little beside him. He's suddenly accutely aware of the fact that they're both wearing nothing but thin scrubs. It's been almost eight weeks since he's even let himself think about her sexually. But she's fully healed now, physically, and no matter what his brain tells his body he wants her.
"Well, there are benefits to not having two to three people on our shebs." He whispers, pressing his mouth to her collarbone. She squirms a little as his tongue traces lazy circles over her skin. Every now and then he pauses to suck on the skin gently. She gasps when he bites her lightly then starts coughing. He stops, libido instantly doused.
"Osik, I'm sorry Ten'ika I didn't mean to push."
She waves her hand at him but keeps coughing for another four seconds.
"No, it's the air down here. Just like on Nar Shadda. Just the haze-lung."
"Do you think you're ready to get out of here?" He asks, voice serious.
He can tell by the way she doesn't meet his eyes that she understood the meaning under the question. Prudii'd dropped them here almost two months ago. The Doc, if he had another name he wasn't sharing it, was an old Verpine who apparently owed the Null some favors. Prudii hadn't wanted to use the Republic facilities after what happened. Gregor had been more than dubious at first but the little clinic was surprisingly advanced and, probably thanks to people like Prudii, the Doc had plenty of high tech, if legally suspect, equipment to work with.
Despite the nerve damage and the trauma of losing a limb Thena had seemed to be healing remarkably well. In two weeks of arrival she had a shiny new limb and fully rebuilt neural pathways. Then her recover slowed to a crawl. It's been taking her a long time to get used to the arm, or so she say. But Gregor had seen her use it almost as dexterously as her left hand five days after the implant. And then there were the scars that she sometimes runs her hands over and over when she thinks no one's watching. She's fully healed, physically, but she's afraid to admit.
He waits, silent. She shifts on the mattress, rolls onto her back and then sits up, legs hanging off the edge of the cot. He doesn't try to follow her or limit her motion. He sits up too when she stands and begins to pace, running her new hand over her fuzzy hair.
"Where would we go?" She asks, still stalking back and forth between the beds.
He shrugs.
"Where ever we want. Do you have somewhere in mind?"
" Mi's not back. And I want Simli not one of those stolen crates your boys are always turning up with." She continues, as though he's accused her of something.
"Okay, but we may need the Null's help getting Mi and Simli here. Or getting us to them. What about if I com them in a few hours? See what's possible."
"No!"
He breathes out, slowly. Then in again, fighting not to let his frustration show. She's not like him. She wasn't trained to process the ugly realities of the galaxy at war the way he was. Older though she might be in years she was still young in the galactic scheme of things.
"Thena please, what do you want?"
She sinks down in the corner where their collective bed had been, arms wrapped tight around her knees. He rises and goes to her.
"Don't. Please don't. I can't think straight when you touch me." She whispers. Her words hit him like a punch, freezing him standing in front of her. She buries her face in her arms and gasps softly, breaking his heart. But he doesn't move. She'd locked him in place with her 'please.' He can speak though.
"Thena I'm sorry. I'm sorry this happened, I never meant...Please, tell me something, anything. I-I can't take this anymore, you hurting and not talking to me."
She wraps her arms tighter around her knees and shakes. He feels like his chest will tear open with the pain of it. He wants to tear it open if only it would make her stop, if only it would bring some shadow of his Thena back rather than this wounded, timid girl who seems likely to shatter at any moment.
"Where are we gonna go Gregor?" She says finally, so softly he could barely hear her. "If we go back out to the Outer Rim Hann'e wants me skinned for losing his shipment. And the Republic did this," she takes in her arm and ribs with one swift motion of her left hand. "Where do we go that's safe, huh?"
"Life's not a safe place, Ten'ika."
"That can't be true. There's got to be somewhere that's safe and good. Where people don't get killed or tortured or whored out. I mean what the kriff is the point if there isn't?"
"I...I don't know Ten'ika. I'm just a soldier-just a man trying to make my way."
"Why? Why try if we're never going to be safe? I'm tired of being scared but what else can I be?"
"Being scared doesn't mean you just give up. I'm scared most of the time."
She makes an incredulous noise.
"I am. Mostly, whenever I'm not fighting. I'm scared that I'm not good enough at whatever it is I'm doing, that I'm too ignorant or not observant enough. I'm scared that I still can't really remember the first half of my life. I'm scared of what might happen if I do remember it. I'm scared of the Nulls and of other clones because I'm scared I'm defective. And I'm dying, twice as fast as you are. And I think I love you but I have no idea if you feel anything like that for me, or even if what I feel is love because I don't know anything about anything except for where to place a kill shot."
She's raised her head and is staring at him, lips slightly parted like she's about to speak. He barrels on, not sure if he'll have the fortitude to make his point if she objects.
"But I keep going, even though I'm scared. Because the alternative is...well there isn't one. No one can hide forever, even if you want to."
She keeps stares at him for a long moment, then says something so quietly he can't make it out.
"What?"
"I love you too."
He sways a little on his feet.
"Oh." He hadn't realized he'd said that last bit out loud.
He stumbles to the wall and sits down next to her, still maintaining a careful half meter or so of distance so she doesn't feel imposed upon. He wonders if this is what telling someone you love them is supposed to feel like. On holo-dramas there's always lots of kissing and happy crying. He feels a little like he's going to vomit and Thena's still curled into a seated ball.
She turns her head to look at him.
"Are you alright?"
"Er, yes? I don't know."
She uncurls enough to scoot closer to him. She raises a hand, hesitates, then brushes it gently through his hair. He closes his eyes for a moment to savor the sensation.
"You look kind of pale." She whispers.
"I feel kind of...pale. I guess. That wasn't really what I was expecting you to say."
"What'd you want me to say?" She asks. He can hear the ghost of a smile in her voice. He looks at her.
"That you're not going to just give up and hide in some subsector clinic because you got hurt...because I got you hurt. That you'll go live your life even though nothing and nowhere's really safe."
"That's what you want?"
"Yes, and maybe for you to let me touch you because I think I need to right now."
The left side of her mouth twitches upward momentarily. She nudges him a little until he's positioned in such a way that she can crawl into his lap. He wraps his arms around her and squeezes, pressing his face into the soft space between her neck and shoulder. She sighs, relaxes against him and goes back to stroking his hair.
"So big, bad Gregor gets scared."
"Every day. You don't know the half of it."
"And you want me to go out and live, even though I'm scared all the time."
"I don't want you to be scared all the time. I just want you not to be like this. Not to hide out like this."
"And you love me, or you think you love me."
He swallows hard.
"Yes. I love you."
Her hands slide down to cup his chin, lifting his head up so she can kiss him. He hesitates, torn between his desire to crush her against him and not wanting to make her feel trapped and restrained. Her mouth moves over his more confidently, her fingers threading into the hair behind his ears. He groans and opens his mouth for her. Her tongue brushes against his lower lip tentatively before sliding deeper to stroke his. He can't stop himself from reaching up to cradle her head, fingers playing over her shorn scalp. He kisses her back now, lapping at her tongue, following it back into her mouth only to coax it out again. She gasps and wriggles a little in his lap. He breaks off, winded and presses his forehead against hers.
"I love you too." She whispers again.
He laughs, still breathless.
"And you'll think about leaving? I can asks Jaing to go get Mi and Simli?"
"Yeah."
He grins and kisses her again, quickly because if they keep it up he's either going to have sex with her on the floor or embarrass himself utterly.
"Will you stay?" She asks. His stomach does another somersault, this time not a happy one. He drops his hands to his sides.
"What?"
"Will you stay, with me? Once Mi comes back with Simli."
He can't speak. She's watching him. She gives a bleak little nod and starts to chew her lip.
"So, no. You won't." She says softly. His stomach contracts painfully.
"No, not won't. I-I don't know if I can."
She closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens them they're still black pools.
"Because you're still in their army. The Grand Army of the Republic." Her cybernetic hand twitches as she all but spits the words out.
"Yes. But it isn't COMPOR. It isn't."
"Let me up."
"Thena please."
"Let me up." Her voice sharp with anger. He lets her clamber awkwardly to her feet.
"I can't turn my back on them. It's what I am." He says, trying to make her understand
"No. It isn't. But I understand now. You're afraid to see the truth, to see what they really are."
"Now you're a Sep?" He asks angrily.
"No. But I'm starting to have a hard time telling one set of bad guys from the other one."
"You're upset, you're seeing this all wrong."
"Am I? What made you forget everything Gregor? What made you run away from the army? I kind of don't think it was the violence, do you? I think you saw something or realized something about the stinking Republic. That for all the talk of unity and equality they throw you and all those men like you away. They do this."
She lifts up her shirt with her cybernetic arm, showing her scars.
"And they get away with it. I think you saw that and it made you run."
"Stop it." He growls.
"Why can't you see it now? Why didn't we go to a Republic facility Gregor? Why was I, why was Kom'rk, a soldier in this army of yours, treated in an illegal clinic in a xeno district?"
Gregor springs to his feet, face to face with Thena. Or rather face to chest in her case because he towers over her. She doesn't back down though.
"I love you Gregor but I cannot watch you walk back into that war and say nothing. You want me to live, to be brave. Fine. I'll do it. But if you go back don't look for me. I won't be waiting for you."
He staggers and sits heavily on one of the cots.
"Don't do this. Don't ask me to choose. I can't. Please, Thena please don't."
Thena takes a shaky breath, and opens her mouth to speak. There's a cough from the doorway of the ward. Both turn towards the sound. Prudii, in full Null Arc rig, is standing in the doorway, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.
"Not to interrupt." He says "But I may have a solution."
"Here, read this." Prudii thrust a pad at Gregor and stepped quickly back.
They 're cloistered in the room the Doc used as an office, the only room in the place with a lock on the door. Prudii'd insisted they not have this discussion in the ward. He'd also insisted Thena come along, though he hadn't looked directly at her yet.
Gregor scans the pad rapidly, his features, already grave in the wake of his argument with Thena darken. He looks up at Prudii accusingly.
"And what in the ever-loving shab is this?" He asks, throwing the pad down.
"Intercepted orders for a shadow trooper, interdiction assignment."
Gregor suddenly bares his teeth and lunges at the Null. Prudii's fully armored, except for the helmet that he's set down on the bench next to Thena. Gregor's still wearing a pair of old scrub pants, and nothing else. Prudii's also got him on weight by more than a stone.
Gregor swings for the Null's unprotected face, connecting hard enough to make Prudii stagger. He aims a rapid second blow toward the other clone's eyes. Prudii blocks that one and grabs Gregor by the shoulders, shoving him. Gregor snarls and tries to dig his hands under Prudii's chest plate. The Null punches him in the stomach, doubling him over.
"Gregor calm down!" Prudii shouts. He leans close to see if he's hurt him. Gregor takes the opportunity to headbutt the other clone. Now it's Prudii's turn to snarl and lunge at Gregor with a wild right hook. It doesn't connect. Instead Prudii stumbles two steps backwards and nearly trips over the Doc's desk chair.
Prudii stares at Thena, clearly shocked that she's grabbed his pauldron in her cybernetic hand and pulled him off Gregor. Before he can recover Thena leaps between the two clones. She puts her back to Gregor and pushes him away from Prudii. As angry as he is with both Thena and the Null he lets her force him back. Prudii stands, a little splay-legged from the blows to his face, watching them warily.
"Stop it." Thena hisses "What in every hell is going on?"
"You were right." Gregor answers in a desolate voice. "You were right cyar'ika, it's rotten to the core."
"What's rotten?" She asks him, still keeping an eye on Prudii as the Null examines his face with his fingers; searching for permanent damage.
"The Army, the whole damn Republic." Gregor spits.
"Half right vod." Mutters Prudii.
Thena huffs a breath through her nose.
"Alright, that's it. You," she points at Gregor. "Sit there," she points to the bench. "And you," she snaps at Prudii, " put your ass in that chair and you explain yourself, clearly, without any useless feking witticism."
Both clones do as their told, though Prudii looks mutinous. Thena reaches for Gregor's stomach to check the bruise that's already forming but he pushes her hand away. She grimaces and sits down, leaving Prudii's helmet between them.
The Null's watching all of this with an inscrutable expression. Thena glowers at him.
"Go on, talk." She says waspishly. Prudii sighs and leans back, chair creaking under his weight.
"I'm sorry. Ni ceta. For what happened." He begins. Gregor inhales sharply. Thena looks at him, then back at Prudii. The Null continues.
"You want me to get down on the floor and lick your boots I will. I want you to know that. It's been eating me alive ever since I left you in that apartment." He looks directly at Thena.
"You too, vod'ika. I thought it was just going to be an observation job, maybe a cosh and carry. I hadn't realized what they'd come to."
"Why are saying this? What's it got to do with that etyc excuse for a mission you just handed me?" Gregor asks, voice still tight with anger.
Prudii hangs his head briefly and rubs his temples.
"Let me tell you about the last one first. Everything I didn't before." He says when he looks up.
Gregor settles back on the bench, arms crossed over his chest; letting the silence turn stony as he waits. Thena looks at him sideways but makes no attempt to touch him. Prudii speaks, voice a little hoarse and eyes over bright.
"We knew about COMPOR." Thena gives a strangled gasp and grips the edge of the bench so hard the servos in her new hand whine. Prudii presses his lips together hard for a moment, then continues.
"We knew they were there but we didn't think they were a threat. They're mouthy bastards but never, never until now have they even hinted at being more than a bunch of talkers. This paramilitary arm...we never saw it coming."
"Why the shab didn't you say something about them, even if you didn't know about the strongarms?" Gregor mutters through clenched teeth.
"Because we wanted to know more about them. There was a wave from Kirvella back here to the core about whether there were any military ops on the planet from Arricnak."
"You didn't intercept it?"
"We only saw it when the response hit his code."
"So the mission was compromised from the start. And you just let us keep going?"
"We didn't know about the muscle. I was trying to trace Arricnak's signal and you were doing everything right. Ordo and Mereel were working on finding-on something else along with Jaing. Kom'rk was still trailing Grievous and A'den...we'll get to him later."
"Did you find out the signal?" Thena asks.
"I did. Just before they moved in against your op, that's when I realized what an awful shabla mess we'd dumped you in. I was already en route when you waved the distress beacon."
"So you kriffed up and we-and Thena, paid for it. You lied to me about that mission from the start and now you want me to go murder another clone for the Republic? Well I won't. I'm done. "
"I don't want you to murder anybody. I swear." Prudii says raggedly. Gregor scoffs. Thena reaches for him hesitantly. He grabs her hand, her flesh and blood hand, in both of his and holds it tight.
"I was ready to walk away from this, from her, for you. Because we were brothers fighting for a good cause. I wanted to be a part of that because all I remember is blood and dead men. I wanted that to mean something. But it doesn't, does it? The Republic is just as bad as the Seps. They kill just as brutally. We're dying for nothing."
"You're right, the Republic is just as bad as the Seps." Prudii says. Gregor shakes his head, tears in his eyes.
"Then why are we fighting for them? Because they own us?"
"We're not fighting for them anymore."
Gregor barks an awful, mirthless laugh and motions to Prudii's armor.
"Could have fooled me, brother."
Prudii closes his eyes for a long moment, as though that will block out the pain of the insult. His eyes are wet too when he looks between Gregor and Thena.
"I can't make what happened right. I can't fix the mistakes I made. I would. I would tear off my arm and carve my flesh if it would make you whole. This mission though, it's the start to my atonement. I don't want you to kill this clone. I want you to find him and keep him alive. I want you to make him the same offer I'm about to make you."
"What offer?" Thena asks.
"We all deserve a chance to make our own choices. To be free and whole. Gregor if you want out you've got it. You don't even have to accept this next mission. There's a place we're building on Mandalore, or if you don't want that I can give you as many creds as you need to start over anywhere else."
"Then why'd you even ask me to hunt down this clone?"
"Because he ran. Because there's hit squads, clone hit squads, being sent out after other clones. A'den and another commando squad ran into them a few weeks ago. We want to, we need, to know why. We need to know who's sanctioning it because the authority on these squads seems to be coming down from the very top."
"But you said you wanted to help this other clone run." Says Thena.
"We do. But if you take this mission, if you pose as the assassin then maybe we find another link in the shabla chain. We get one step closer to stopping them."
"Who's them?" Thena asks, "Separatist moles, who?"
"We don't know yet, maybe. The Jedi have been going on about some Sith Lord who may have tentacles sunk into the Senate."
"What's a Sith Lord?" Gregor says.
"Like a Jedi, but...evil I guess. There's supposed to be one in charge of the Seps."
"And this same one may be corrupting Senators? Or maybe the Jedi even?"
"Possibly."
"And you can't find out unless we start tracking these strange sub-intel operations." Gregor mutters, sounding resigned.
"Exactly, you in?"
"Hold up there hot shot." Snaps Thena "Why Gregor? You said he could get out if he wanted. Why don't one of you lot do it?"
"Because Gregor doesn't exist. He's already dead." Prudii tells her. "We're a known quantity. We can slice any system you want but we need to know where to look and right now we're in the dark."
Gregor's still holding Thena's hand. He looks at her, dark eyes serious. She bites her lips and then huffs a sigh.
"One more and you're out, you promise me." She whispers.
"I'll give you one better." Prudii interjects. They turn toward him.
"I think should both take this one. Use Thena's ship, scout out a place if you don't want to come to Mandalore."
"Really?" Gregor asks.
"Yes, really. You did a damn fine job on Kirvella. We've cracked the entire network back to Murkhanna thanks to you two. You're good together. "
Thena cocks an eyebrow at the Null.
"Is this part of the atonement? Playing relationship councilor?"
"Maybe. Actually I didn't realize I was going to have to try. I was in the bag for you two getting married until I turned up this morning."
Thena snorts.
"You going to give us time to plan a wedding before we go racing off after your fugitive?"
Gregor clears his throat, hesitantly.
"Mandalorians don't really need much time to plan weddings." He tells her.
"What does that mean? Do they just bash the marriage prospect over the head and carry them back to the cave?"
Prudii snorts. Gregor rubs the back of his skull before continuing.
"Not quite cyar'ika. We just make a vow to each other. Nobody needs to get dressed up or go to a temple or anything."
"You just say some words and that's it?"
"It's the bond that's important, the riduuork. The words make it official, legal really, for public knowledge."
She stares at him silently for several moments.
"Is this your idea of a marriage proposal?" She asks, voice incredulous, but not, he hopes, angry.
"Well, no. I wasn't planning on this. I mean I wanted to ask but half an hour ago I was convinced you were leaving me."
"I can go get you a ring if you want-" Prudii adds.
"Shut up." Thena hisses at him over her shoulder. She looks back at Gregor.
"Do you really want to get married? Really? Not just because he," she jerks her chin in the Null's direction, "mentioned it?"
Gregor takes a deep breath.
"I'm not gonna live as long as you are. I already told you how that scares me. I don't want to leave you hurting if I can help it but I also don't want to give up on this thing between us. Yes. I want to marry you. Even if we only get a few more years."
Thena makes an odd noise, somewhere between a laugh and a sob.
"How could I turn that down? Yes, Gregor. I'll marry you. I love you and I'll love you for every minute of the rest of your life."
He grins at her, tearing up as he does so.
"Will you do it right now?"
"What here?" She says, voice cracking in disbelief.
"Yeah. Why not?"
"Well, I guess I didn't think you could get married in a black-market doctor's office. And Mi'll be pissed she wasn't here. And I thought maybe we'd be dressed. But okay, sure. What are these words we're supposed to say? Do we stand up, hold hands?"
Gregor glances at Prudii.
"Whatever you want ad'ika." He says with a grin. Gregor stands and offers Thena his hands. She stands, tugs at the wrinkled blue scrubs she's wearing, and clasps them. Gregor glances guiltily at Prudii.
"I can't remember all of them."
The Null's grin looks ready to split his face in two.
"Nerves I expect." He stands up too "I'll play officiate shall I? Okay kids, repeat after me. Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde."
They echo him, voices blending together. At the end Prudii claps.
"What did I just say?" Thena whispers to Gregor. He looks down at her, feeling a grin on his face wider than Prudii's.
"We are one when we are together. We are one when we are apart. We share all things. We will raise warriors."
"Oh. " Thena sniffs a little and blushes. Her voice comes out hoarse when she speaks again.
"Why'd you have to go and be all romantic?"
"Kandosii, very smooth Gregor." Prudii chuckles. "Now kiss."
They do. Gregor picks Thena up off the ground slightly in his enthusiasm. She laughs into his mouth. Suddenly he pulls back, looking alarmed.
"Ten'ika you're crying."
"Yeah, I might have talked the Doc into some other upgrades. I always wondered what it was like." She mutters, swiping at her eyes. "Stings a little."
Now Gregor laughs and kisses her again. Prudii's still tittering when they break apart.
"You're sweet you two, makes my old heart glad."
"You're about a year older than me." Gregor mutters, holding onto Thena's waist and unable to stop smiling.
"Makes all the difference to a clone, although, maybe not forever."
"Are you still here Prudii?" Thena grouses.
"I am. With a wedding gift, of the postdated variety sadly but..."
"Less rambling, more leaving." Thena says, mouth partially over Gregor's
"You know that tiny problem where we're all, clones that is, going to die of premature aging?"
"Kriff off Prudii, right now you want to talk about that, really? Can we have a day?" Thena snaps, heels hitting the floor as she steps away from Gregor. He makes a half hearted grab for her arm to keep her away from the Null. Prudii's smile gets bigger and more sly.
"Yes. I have to talk about it today. Because we're gonna fix it. We've got the kaminisii scientist who did this to us and we're going to make her tell us how to stop it. Everybody gets a full life."
"We, the army?" Gregor asks after a moment of nonplussed silence.
"We the Nulls. We the aliit."
Gregor's staring with his mouth open. Prudii's clearly waiting for congratulations of his own. Thena slips away from Gregor and slaps him instead. The Null shakes his head, rubbing his cheek.
"What the shab you crazy-"
Then she throws her arms around his neck and hugs him. He stands for a moment, then smirks, shrugs and hugs her back.
"Why do you people always have to be so kriffing dramatic about everything?" She sobs into his shoulder. "You could have just told us."
"When? How?" Gregor wheezes, still in shock at the revelation.
"As soon as we can. And I don't know how, that schutta cloner's gonna tell us."
Gregor staggers to the bench and sits down, dropping his head to his knees. Prudii laughs and gives Thena and affectionate squeeze.
"You've my word ner vode, as soon as we've got the cure I'll wave you. I'll deliver it myself."
"Yeah, okay. I...okay." Gregor mutters, clearly concentrating on breathing. He looks up after a moment.
"Hey Prudii, you want to let go of my wife so I can carry her back to my cave?"
Thena chokes on a laugh and steps away from the Null, face wet with new tears. Prudii gives her a gentle push toward the other clone.
"Anything you want ad'ika."
There we go. Things are okay. Our tribulations and trials weathered, happy ending earned. One more quick chapter though, because there's just one or two threads I want to make sure are tied off.