CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Rex entered the kitchen, his back against the wall, blaster held double handed, standard urban entry, and scanned the room; it was clear. It was silent except for a mechanical humming sound in the distance. He swallowed, his apprehension increased; he knew that sound, knew it well, too well. Moving quickly but silently, he crept towards the sound. The hum was in this scenario menacing. He flattened himself against the wall and pushed the door; it flew open, hit and rebounded from the wall as he leapt in, blaster primed and ready to fire.

He had been ready for anything but the scene that faced him; he would have wagered his life on anything but that, as he took in the scene that confronted him.

The mechanical hum continued.

"Cyar'ika," He said gently. Ana didn't respond.

"Switch the blade off." Still no response.

"Ana, switch the blade off and drop it." She was frozen, kneeling on the bed, blood spattered everywhere.

He moved towards her slowly, one step at a time, no sudden movement.

"Ana…" He tried one more time.

Her eyes blinked.

"The blade, switch it off."

She pressed the off switch.

Her hand continued to shake, mimicking the now ceased vibrations but she still didn't drop it. Her eyes fixed on him. He took a step towards her; the blade followed him.

"Ana, just drop it, please. It's me, Rex." She blinked at him again and, as the glimmer of recognition appeared in her eyes, she dropped the vibroblade, like it had just been retrieved from a furnace. Rex moved towards her and kicked the blade away. He was not sure yet if Raif was dead, if he wasn't, he soon would be; but for now his main priority was Ana. He moved onto the bed and gently pulled her up from her kneeling position, off the bed and pushed her out of the bedroom. She never said a word.

He had seen this before in the midst of battle.

"Are you hurt?" He was patting her down but got no reaction; the blood was everywhere and it was difficult to tell what was Raif's and what was hers, as he could already see two nasty scratches on her arm, that were oozing blood.

"We need to get you cleaned up." Again there was no response from her and he gently pushed her to the fresher in the other bedroom. He pulled the nightdress off her, it was ripped but seeing no other wounds, he started the shower for her and guided her into it.

She stood like a statue letting the hot water fall over her.

"You'll be ok for a minute." he assured her gently and returned to the other bedroom.

He contemplated checking if Raif was alive but decided it didn't matter and finished him off with a head shot, just in case.

Rex was bred for killing and had never had any compunction in removing anyone, who was threatening him and his own, especially after Umbara. That had sharpened his need to protect them.

He went back to Ana, at least she had moved and had braced herself facing the wall, letting the water run down her back.

Rex retrieved the soap and handed it to her. "Here, use this. Get all the blood off and then we'll decide what to do."

.

Back in their bedroom Raif's body lay on the floor, a voluminous dark red cape of blood pooled around him. He was not sure whether he had got on the floor by his own volition or if Ana had pushed him. He rather thought it was the former given his size. Rex grabbed him by the feet and pulled him through the house to the outside. He finished with all the bodies piled up outside. He had an idea what he wanted to do but maybe needed to check with Ana, if she was up to it. She was worrying him.

He could still hear the shower running; he'd better check on her. She was still there, the water having run cold she stood, shivering and pale, lips tinged with blue but all the blood had been cleaned off. Leaning in, Rex switched off the water and wrapped her first in a towel and then in an embrace. He finally saw the marks, livid bruises on her arms, rib cage and neck. She was stiff in his arms, like a droid and said nothing. He pulled her gently to the kitchen; he had cleaned the blood off the floor as best he could and he now sat her in front of the open fire to get her warm. He poured her a brandy, which she drank back in one.

"Ana?" She looked to be in shock but he hadn't been exactly sure what Raif had done to her and now she seemed to be coming around from that shock.

"Is he dead?"

"Yes."

"The others."

"All dead."

Her breath hitched a little and he thought she was going to cry.

"All of them."

"All."

"Where are they?"

"Outside."

"We could dump them in the forest, let the animals get them."

He was surprised how calm she was - calculating.

"We could use the repulsor lift." She added, as she stood up. Revitalised.

He pushed her back down, "It's ok, I'll do it. You sit and get warm." He ordered and pulled the blanket around her and then turned her to face the fire, "I won't be long."

.

Rex disposed of the bodies far enough away that he felt comfortable leaving them and that they would not be discovered by any sentient being.

He checked on Ana a couple of times as he was finishing off; she was subdued but seemed alert, offering to help him. A couple of minutes after dropping the last one off, he heard the howls of several animals. Possibly a couple of Nexu, just like the one that attacked him. There wouldn't be much left to find of the bodies but he couldn't feel any regret over what had happened.

The lights were still on when he drew up in the speeder, he couldn't imagine what Ana was feeling. Although he had been bred to fight, it was as a soldier; he took no pleasure in the killing, it was something that he did when needed. This had been needed to protect his own. He would do it again in a heartbeat.

When he entered the kitchen, Ana was on her knees scrubbing at the spotless floor.

"Ana what are you doing?"

"Getting rid of the blood," she replied, preoccupied with the scrubbing. Rex could see nothing, the floor was spotless. "Ana, it's clean; it's all gone." He bent down and covered her hands with his and stopped her scrubbing.

"Look!" He took her hand and wiped it on the floor, pushing it back under her eyes, "See."

It had the desired effect and she stopped, slumping to the floor. "I thought you weren't coming back and it was still there."

"It's all gone." He pulled her up to her feet and embraced her feeling her lean into him, shaking slightly. "Let's try and get some sleep." He supported her as he led her to the bedroom. She stopped, immovable "No,"

"Ana?"

"Not that room!" She replied, he could see the panic in her eyes and realised what she meant.

"OK, let's go in my old room."

"Yes. Yes.."

Leading her to the room that he used to occupy, the bed was still made up, he gently pushed her down onto it and covered her up before going and checking the perimeter. He would have to repair the alarms tomorrow. He returned a few minutes later and joined her, pulling her close she was still shaking.

"I did the right thing, Rex, didn't I? He was going to hurt you, I know he was."

"You did right, Cyar'ika. If you hadn't, I would have."

He held her tight hoping she would eventually sleep; she seemed to be dozing when her eyes shot open.

"Where's Bonnie?"

He couldn't believe she was actually thinking about the Tooka at this time; "I'll find her." He would look for her, if only to put Ana's mind at rest, anything to help her.

She lay back as he left to look for the Tooka; he could remember her attacking his assailants, so he then found himself standing at the door shouting "Bonnie" in a slightly higher pitched voice than he normally used, desperately trying to sound friendly. He walked around the house twice before he heard a pitiful mewling sound coming from near the Nuna shed. Crawling on all fours he finally found her, in the Nuna house, licking her back leg; the Nunas for some reason standing guard.

"Aww, Fek!" He swore, when he saw her. He gently lifted her and she let him, her mewling softer than ever and that made him think she was badly injured. It looked to be a broken leg but he couldn't be sure but she was in pain. He carried her back to the house, wrapped her in a towel and put in a box near the fire, making her as comfortable as possible and then went to get a blaster.

He finally found Ana's small Q2 blaster, he didn't want to disintegrate the Tooka but he needed to put it out of its misery; he walked back to the kitchen, checking the settings, as he went. He was stopped by the image of Ana standing at the table, with box on it stroking the Tooka, whilst examining it to find out what was wrong with it. She was murmuring to it.

"I think her legs broken." Rex started, "I was just going to…."

"No!"

"She's in pain."

"I can set it."

"She's in pain, it's not fair…."

"I'll give her something, a reduced amount of analgesic and I've got some Bacta left, Tula gave it me."

She had already started grinding up some tablets and was adding them to some blue milk; watching her, Rex decided not to push the matter. It seemed to take her mind off what had happened and if it helped, so much the better. She spooned the mixture in the animals mouth, it licked it up. Ana went to look for the medikit.

The Tooka was quiet; Rex thought she had finally died but no.

"Rex, I need your help."

He was at her side in a second and could see now what she was doing; she was splinting the leg.

"Hold her please."

He braced himself for the hissing, spitting and scratching that inevitably followed trying to restrict the creature. It yawned, it's wide toothed mouth showing every tiny, sharp tooth; he held its front legs and body tight. There was an initial yowl and then it stopped, quiet, still, as if it sensed they were trying to help. Ana finally finished and he let it go; squirming it shuffled around until it was comfortable, yawned and curled in a ball, albeit with an oddly shaped leg. Ana satisfied, put the the box next to the fire and stoked it up a little, so that it would be warm for the animal. She gave Rex the briefest of smiles.

Different people had different ways of coping.