Summary: "As the cave becomes quiet again, he hears the faint snarl of a creature off to his right. At first, he almost thinks it's one of his recordings." Tech tries to keep himself company while he awaits rescue at the bottom of a cave. One-shot.
Down In The Dark
Tech has stayed behind from this trip into civilization to finish repairs. And he did finish them. Then he decided to do some exploring of the nearby area- that was a mistake. He should've stayed on the Marauder.
But now, he sits at the bottom of a cave, about forty feet deep inside a hill, sporting a broken leg and several other minor injuries. He can't really move, definitely can't climb back out.
That was unwise, he thinks, as he leans against one of the cave walls. Moonlight streams through the opening above him, glistening on the damp surfaces of his armor. But, other than that, it's dark. He hopes there's nothing living down here with him. He has a blaster, but he certainly can't run if it comes to it.
He can feel the cool, damp surfaces of the rock through the gaps in his armor, and it chills him despite his undersuit's thermo regulation.
He can't really see either- his helmet had got caught in the fall and torn off of his head by a sharp rock, his goggles with it. They're laying a few yards away, but his leg is in too much pain to make seeing worth the accursed limb hurting more.
So, he sits, and waits, and suffers.
It occurs to him, an hour in, that he still has thousands of recordings encoded into his suit's built-in datapad from missions and otherwise. He begins playing some of them, using the sounds to chase the dark thoughts that threaten him away.
It helps, at first.
The peaceful moan of a Purrgil, the purr of a Loth-cat, the throaty rumble of a Blurrg.
Then the sounds transition into the voices of the squad, a few rare happy moments between them. Crosshair laughing, Wrecker cheering, Hunter huffing in fond amusement, Echo praising one of them for someone.
It doesn't bother him all that much.
Then Omega laughs joyfully.
That bothers him. Because he doesn't know for sure that he'll get out of this cave.
He stops playing the sounds after that, just sits and lets the silence of the cave envelope him.
He pulls his good leg to his chest, rests his arm on his knee, and his head on top of the arm. He considers allowing himself to rest, to get a little sleep to pass the time, but decides against it.
"Tech." Hunter's voice startles him from his thoughts. "I thought I told you to stay on the ship and work on repairs."
"I did." He speaks into his comlink after a brief pause to compose himself from the scare. A wave of relief courses through him as soon as he's over it- his absence has been noticed, he'll be rescued soon. "The Marauder is in flying condition."
"Right, so, where are you, then?"
"Ah, about that...Sending you my coordinates."
It's silent for a moment as Hunter receives them. "On our way."
"Bring some rope." He sighs.
As the cave becomes quiet again, he hears the faint snarl of a creature off to his right. At first, he almost thinks it's one of his recordings. Then he stiffens, draws one of his blaster pistols and holds it close, just in case. It'd be no use to die before Hunter arrives.
He runs the possibilities through his head. He might get attacked by this creature, the entrance to the cave might cave in and fall on top of him, he might never be found and die of dehydration- or, he might survive unscathed.
But he won't put it past the creature to just ignore him.
It does, actually.
He never even sees the thing.
Time passes slowly.
Tech doesn't complain.
It's the unnatural light flashing down into the cave that makes him tilt his head to look up. He squints, tries to see past the light. The beam comes to a halt on him.
"What happened?" Hunter asks, disbelieving, as he tosses one end of a rope down to him.
Tech shrugs. "I fell."
"You don't say." Echo scoffs from beside the sergeant.
"Are you injured?" Hunter ignores him.
"It appears that my leg is broken, but that is the worst of it." Tech tells him, wincing at his protesting muscles as he stretches from the position he'd been in.
Above him, his brothers exchange a few words. He's too deep in the cave to be able to hear what they say in its entirety, but he thinks he hears,"We can't leave him here. We'll have to manage without Wrecker this time."
Tech sighs, carefully drags himself over to his gear- he makes sure to keep his injured leg from even touching the ground. Relief floods through his battered body as he pulls his goggles on and the blurs of the world around him sharpen out into actual things. He doesn't put his helmet on yet, won't until the others give him the signal to leave the blasted cave.
"I would rather not spend the night down here." He calls up to them.
"Hang on." Hunter tells him. He says a few things to Echo that Tech can't make out. "Tech, grab the rope- we'll pull you up."
He understands why they were talking about Wrecker now.
Tech stretches from his position on the cold cave floor, just manages to grasp the rope and pull it towards him. He briefly considers typing it around his wrist, but realizes that he really doesn't want another broken bone, so he ties it around his waist instead- a failsafe for if his aching arms refuse to properly hold him to the rope.
He tugs on it, to alert them that he's ready for them to heave him up.
They do.
It feels great when he finally injects bacta into his bloodstream.