Chapter 28.
Latest edit; July 29th, 2015. Cheers and Enjoy.
Mako didn't know what to think anymore. Gault and she had spent the better part of the last 36 hours scouring Nar Shadaa for the various morbid items they needed to finish repairing Raidre's hand, as well as a specialist who could make sure it was all done right. Torian had taken it well to be put on babysitting duty, he hadn't even made a sound of complaint. In fact, he was turning out to be an excellent nurse! Raidre came in and out of the medicine induced coma. Whenever she came to, he was there with food and drink. Whenever she had a need, he met it and he never said much about it to them. Though from the few comms Mako had received with Raidre awake, she seemed well.
This guy was something else.
"I bet he handles kids well too."
"Gault, get out of my head!"
"Just saying! Seems to be a Mandalorian thing."
Mako shrugged. "When I asked him about it, he said Mandalorians believe in fixing broken things and making them better than new. I guess that applies to people too."
"I guess."
"I'm gonna check in again-"
"Mako, you just spoke to Torian an hour ago. Let the kid breath a bit. He's got things under control!"
Mako looked at Gault in the driver seat of a recently commandeered speeder. "I just want to make sure he's still there when we get back."
Gault frowned. "You need more caf or something? He's not going to go anywhere. Not now that you've got him playing mother hen!"
Mako took a deep breath. "You think so?"
Gault nodded as he rolled his eyes, looking to the sky for patience. "Yes, Mako. Pretty sure, unless we don't really know Torian and he's actually a big jerk. Pretty sure he wouldn't, or rather couldn't physically be made to leave a damsel in distress."
"Oh. That's rich."
Torian kept an ear for his comm while the other paid very close attention to the vitals beeping away behind him. If it so much as hiccupped, he would know. He also kept his eyes glued on Raidre to look out for any signs of discomfort or pain. He kept busy while she slept, doing the grunt work and research on their target Reneget Vause and also running some final background checks on this little Jawa that Raidre was looking to adopt. Okay, so adopt was perhaps the wrong word, but she was treating the Jawa like a stray puppy. It was hard to find anything on Blizz, Jawas didn't exactly keep records on the extra-net even so, no-news was good news in this instance.
"Mmm…"
Torian perked up and closed his data pad as soon as he heard her.
"Morning sleeping beauty."
She chuckled. "Feels like you just said that to me"
Torian shrugged. "How you feeling?"
"Groggy."
"Normal."
"Why does it feel like I'm on heavy drugs?"
Torian did his best not to let his features betray his internal flinching. It had been unanimous. No one wanted to tell Raidre she'd lost a hand, no one wanted to see her reaction or have to deal with the bravado and fake optimism. They'd all agreed that she'd find out when she was fixed. The sedation had been Mako's solution. It felt wrong, but none of them wanted what would naturally have been Raidre's response; to focus on the task at hand and worry about her hand problem another time. Raidre rarely saw her injuries as a priority. On this topic, even Gault was adamantly in disagreement with her.
"Lost a lot of blood, need rest."
All mostly true.
She was already snoozing again, the automatic barbiturate regulator was back on duty. It had taken it a bit of time to adjust to Raidre's metabolism, this woman was not only tough as nails, but required double-doses in most medicine. It had frustrated the heck out of Mako! Torian watched her face smooth out and become relaxed, beautiful. He could stare and lose track of time, had done so repeatedly. He had studied every burn mark and every line etched on her face, from thorns to vines back to thorns again. Every smile line, beauty mark and tic committed to memory. He sighed, tearing his eyes away from her and went back to work, trying his best not to think about her and those sharp, beautiful eyes of hers.
Dr. Megadol was reasonable, expensive and discreet. Two of Gaults favourite qualities coupled with his least favourite one. But no expenses were spared for the boss.
How curious it was that he not only thought of Raidre as his boss, but also with fondness.
Ah, but how could he not be fond of the little work-aholic? Sure, she was a stickler for her morals and had a way of ruining all the fun, but she was fair and Gault had forgotten what it was like to work with someone who was fair. There just wasn't that many folk in the Galaxy who knew the meaning of the word. But then, it was likely because of people like Gault.
Dr. Megadol pulled off his gloves and wiped his face upon exiting their med-bay. He'd been there for six hours and Gault could see with his peripheral vision that Mako was putting away the strange instruments that had come with their good doctor. At least he brought his own equipment.
"That went much better than I had expected."
Gault snorted.
"Better have."
And that was Torian being his usual laconic self with a pinch of threat. Gault rose a hand to ward off the Mandalorian.
"As you can see doctor, we're all very concerned for our friend."
Dr. Megadol frowned with pursed lips eyes concentrated on Torian. "Yes, I see."
The doctor wasn't very distinguishable, which made it easy for him to move from planet to planet unhindered even with the war going on. An accomplished surgeon like him could be made rich by a war, lots of smugglers and criminals needed medical attention and plastic surgery when bits went missing. Hands were invaluable and required a delicate touch when in need of repairs... So the good doctor could be found following the direction of the action. He looked away from Torian after a time and back at Gault.
"Mr Woner, a word."
Gault nodded and followed the doctor to the bridge, Torian knew better than to follow, he went into the med-bay as Gault led Dr. Megadol up the stairs.
"Mr. Woner, I hope your payment clears and that your Mandalorian friend forgets me quickly."
Gault pulled out his data-pad and made the necessary arrangements to begin transferring the funds.
"The payment is clearing as we speak and I wouldn't worry about the kid. He never forgets a face, but if you did what we asked, he won't have a reason to find you."
The doctor was made of sterner stuff, he didn't even flinch or look nervous.
"I assure you that my work was flawless, my equipment is the best money can buy for another decade and your bio-plast was high grade. She'll recover to find her new hand is more responsive than she remembered it. There won't be any complications."
Gault sighed and let his features harden in a rare display of menace. "For your sake, I hope so. I don't shell out this kind of cash for nothing, and I don't like being swindled."
Dr. Megadol bristled at that. "There is no swindling going on. Honest work deserves honest pay and that's what we're trading here."
Both the doctor and the Devaronian received notifications of a successful transaction of funds simultaneously. The man nodded to the Devaronian and they shook hands.
"I don't think we'll be seeing each other, but if there is anything. An infection, a stiffness or a difficulty with neural responses, contact me. I will follow up on my patient in exactly six months to see how she is progressing and that'll be it."
"As long as it's enough, if she needs anything, you'll hear from us." Gault added.
The doctor frowned but nodded. "Very well. Good day"
Gault nodded. "See you around, doc!"
Gault followed the doctor as he exited and closed the hatch behind him. "Mako! We can head out!"
"Got it!" Mako responded over the comms.
Gault returned to the med-bay where Torian sat at his usual spot by Raidre's side. Gault had to feel for the kid. With his sense of honour and responsibility, for sure the kid felt guilty. And none of them had been successful in getting him to open up about it or to dissuade him. I mean, who could have known some Jedi would be searching for Raidre on Hoth? In fact, once Mako and Gault had heard the story, they both agreed that Torian had done his best; they could have fared a lot worse than just a single severed limb.
"She'll be up in no time and better than ever!"
Torian grunted and chose not add any comment.
Gault sighed. "You gonna get over this?"
Torian shrugged and still had no comment.
"This REALLY wasn't your fault, you know?"
Torian looked at Gault and he could feel the weight of that stare, eyebrows low and making Torian's eyes look really deep.
"Oh-kay, I think I'll be going now."
Gault backed out of the med-bay slowly with his hands up-raised as a sign of being unarmed. He never understood how, but when Gault dealt with Torian he often felt like he was being trailed by a long range blaster rifle.