Chapter 50
Been re-reading my chapters so that I can get back into the swing of things and continue. Regular practice/protocol. I am SOOO sorry for some of the mistakes. MY GAWSH, sometimes I amaze myself. Cheers and enjoy. Last edited August 25th, 2017.
The months after Torian's injury were difficult. When Torian had first joined the team, Mako had felt a little put-off by him. He was stoic, spoke little, but was always present. There was a vein of anger in him, present in every Mandalorian she had ever met, but his ran deeper and raged harder than most. But it had always just been an impression, something that was only ever at the foreground when Torian fought.
That vein of anger only grew with this injury. The true harm came from shame that was now mixed in with it. Torian rarely came out of his room or interacted with anyone anymore.
He was suffering, angry because of it and his normal outlets were all cut away from him.
And Raidre often came to talk to Mako about it when he was asleep. Mako did what she thought was best. She called Dr. Megadol.
"I see, I am surprised he's taking it so well."
"You think he's taking this, well?!" Mako groaned as she ran her hands through her hair. "Harry, I need help, I can fix broken limbs and things I can see, but this is beyond what I can handle."
Dr. Megadol rubbed a scruffy chin, his face was covered in soot as he thought.
Mako frowned at the holo projection of Dr. Megadol. "Hey, where are you right now?"
The good doctor was startled by her voice out of his thoughts, he relinquished his chin from his pensive rubbing. "Oh, Balmorra."
Mako groaned. "Man, that planet-"
"It pays the bills dearest. Have you contacted Mr. Caderra's friend, Mr. Ordo, was it?"
Mako blushed and averted her eyes from the holo. "I might have. "
Dr. Megadol gave Mako a quirked brow and suppressed smile. "Oh, really?"
Mako crossed her arms. "We are changing the subject!"
Dr. Megadol shrugged and showed both hands empty and open in a sign of peace. "As you wish, my dear."
Mako inhaled. "So, call Corridan?"
"It is a good way to tackle the problem. Warriors seldom deal with their own weakness well, Mr. Caderra will be exceptionally obstinate. He needs a vod who has seen him at his weakest moments and has accepted him for it. This whole display stems from Mr. Caderra's fear of being obsolete if he cannot be the 'muscle' for your rag-tag group."
Mako frowned, jaw slack. "Are you for real?!"
Dr. Megadol laughed. "Mandalorians, fascinating bunch."
"How do you know so much about them?" asked Mako with good hearted suspicion.
Dr. Megadol's face broke into a crooked smile. "My dear, who do you think lives and can pay for my services most often?"
Mako's mouth shut, her teeth smacked together. "Yea, you're right."
Dr. Megadol nodded. "Invite Corridan to visit, have him bring a few friends, refresh Mr. Caderra's spirits. I am certain he will be ready to begin his journey to recovery afterwards. However, I will be away from the HoloNet for a time after tomorrow. For any other assistance please don't hesitate to contact my daughter Chère. She specializes in injuries of the psyche, so she would be best placed to help you."
Mako blinked. "Oh, wow, thank you."
"Transmitting coordinates now-"
"Harry, will you be okay?" Mako cut in, her face constricted with concern.
Dr. Megadol paused as Mako gave him large amber eyes. His dry and dirty face smiled all the way up to his eyes, and Mako was pleasantly pleased to see a perfect set of pearly white's peak at her.
"Of course, my dear. Just going into some very nasty territory and my chances of moving through swiftly and safely are increased substantially with radio silence."
Mako hugged her knees and nodded. "You call me and let me know when it's safe. Otherwise I'll worry!"
Dr. Megadol's face softened while the smile remained. "Keep talking like that and Mr. Ordo will have to contend with competition, my dear."
Mako gasped and Dr. Megadol clicked off.
Mako took Harry's advice and called Corridan. As soon as he could be free, he was over, which was great! Because Raidre had needed help and had recruited a Houk.
Torian had not taken it well and Mako hadn't been able to get him to come out of his room for days afterwards.
"I came as soon as I could." greeted Corridan as soon as the bay doors were wide enough for him to walk through.
He still wore his kit from his last job. His recent paint job in navy and gold was obstructed by dirt and soot. He had not even washed before coming to meet her. Mako smiled at the strange sweetness of her Mandalorian, but before she could respond he pulled her in for a hug and kiss. Mako exhaled as her body relaxed into Corridan's embrace. He broke their kiss, but his forehead remained pressed to hers.
"Hi." Was all he said.
Mako giggled, her cheeks flushed from his affection. "Hi." She replied.
Corridan smiled, but after a moment of her just staring at him, he exclaimed. "So, what's going on, you sounded really stressed on that holo call?"
Mako sighed and let go of Corridan. She walked to the steps and rested her face in the palms of her hands as she let her body sink and sit. "Well… You're not gonna like it."
Corridan frowned, but sat down to her right side, his body pressed against hers. "You can tell me."
Mako nodded as she bit her lower lip. "Promise not to get angry?"
Corridan shook his head as he chuckled. "Nope."
Mako frowned. "Shoot."
Corridan frowned. "I don't make promises I don't know if I can keep."
Mako sighed and let her head fall on his left shoulder. "I know, I know. You're an upstanding guy, and everything."
Corridan blinked, but wrapped an arm around her shoulders, he rubbed her arm. "Could you sound anymore disappointed?"
Mako laughed. "Oh, gosh! I'm not disappointed! Sorry, please don't take it that way-"
Corridan grabbed her shoulders. "Cyare, it'll be fine. Now. Tell me what happened?"
Mako took a deep breath. "Okay, fine. Torrian got injured bad saving Raidre, and now he's been cooped up in his room because that boy's got issues." She said as quick as was possible while lingering on the final word.
Mako sighed, relieved once she had said. Corridan blinked several times, shook his head and even laughed a little.
"Wait, what?"
Mako took a deep breath and several hours to explain the sequence of events that lead to Torrian getting… for lack of a better word, half of his body melted off. Halfway through telling him about Torian's injuries, Mako paused when she noticed how pale Corridan was.
"Hon, you okay?"
Corridan nodded, his lips a single thin pressed line. "Yea." he managed to squeak out. "Just, a lot to take in."
Mako nodded. "Yea, just be happy you weren't here."
Corridan kept nodding. "In this case, yea. I'm really glad I wasn't."
Mako nodded. "What matters is that I could repair the damage and that he lives."
Corridan nodded. "Don't think I could forgive Raidre if she got Tor killed."
Mako grimaced. "You know, you two should meet, you might not hate her so much once you did."
Corridan inhaled through his nostrils and exhaled through his lips as he pinched the bridge of his nose with eyes screwed shut. "Don't hate the girl, just wish she wasn't so much like Torrian, they're both so reckless!"
Mako nodded. "Well, if it's any consolation, this really knocked sense into her about that."
Corridan's eyes were wide and slightly bulging. "THIS?! This is what wakes her up!?" Corridan raked his fingers through his hair. "Gosh, there were douzens of wake up calls way before this!"
Mako flinched. "Okay, that's fair."
Corridan stood up at once. "Okay, where's the block head?"
Mako stood up as well, hands held up in alarm. "Are you sure? I mean, shouldn't you get settled first?"
"TORIAN!" Corridan shouted with the force of a drill sergeant, the Mantis shook and Mako was both surprised and startled.
Corridan started walking through the Mantis yelling. Mako ran after him, but Corridan had this maddening marching pace when he got angry. Mako tried to lead Corridan to Torian's room, but halfway there they bumped into him in his levi-chair.
"Oh. There you are vod."
Torian just glared at him. "Had to yell?"
Corridan frowned. "Would you have come out if I hadn't?"
Torian snorted and began turning his levi-chair around. Corridan looked back at Mako and mouthed. "This will take a while."
Mako nodded.
"Later Mako." Corridan said over his shoulder as he followed Torian.
"Later Corridan." Mako waved at her Mando and just as he walked out of sight she sighed and whispered. "Good luck."
Mako didn't see the Mandos for many hours. She was about to pass out in the pilot's seat when she felt a blanket being laid on her. She inhaled and woke up. Corridan smiled at her, but it never reached his eyes.
"Didn't mean to wake you." He whispered.
Mako stretched. "I'm okay." She yawned. "Wasn't sleeping."
Corridan's eyes smiled along with his lips. "Sure."
Mako rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and then raked a hand through her hair. Unbeknownst to her, her hair stayed up post her hand coming it upwards. Corridan laughed and gently combed her hair with his fingers until they laid back in their customary fashion along her scalp. Mako nodded still half-asleep.
"Thank you."
Corridan chuckled. "You're welcome."
Mako woke up quickly however. "So, how's my patient?"
Corridan frowned and shook his head. "Bad. I don't know if I helped any. Sorry."
Mako smiled and put both her palms along his cheeks, squeezing his face so that his lips puckered together. Corridan did his best to smiled and laid his hands atop hers.
"Thank you so much for trying to cheer him up. When he's better, he will thank you too."
Corridan's face fell a bit as he nodded. "I don't think he'll be the same after this."
Mako sighed. "That bad, huh?"
Corridan nodded. Mako's hands went a little limp and slipped from Corridan's face. He held her hands on his shoulders however and rubbed them. Corridan inhaled deep.
"Okay, we gotta get serious about this. I'm gonna call Kevain-"
Mako's arms flailed. "Nooooo! Anything but that!"
Corridan chuckled. "You know it will work."
"Arrrrrgh! But he can be sooooooo annoying!"
Corridan arched a thick brow at Mako. "This coming from you, cyare?"
Mako pouted. "Shut up. No, really, stop talking now."
Corridan just suppressed a laugh through tight lips, but his eyes danced with humor and gave him away. Mako frowned again and let herself fall back into her chair. "FINE! Call Kevain. He can stay as long as Torrian needs. I'll call Chère Megadol as well."
"Who now?" Corridan asked.
"Our expert medic, for when osik gets way too real for me to handle, Dr. Megadol, well, turns out he's got a daughter, and she's replacing him while he's on duty on Balmorra-"
Corridan sucked in his breath. Mako nodded.
"Yea, I know," Mako agreed. "I told him the same thing. This guys is crazy. Anyway, he suggested I call his daughter for this issue."
Corridan nodded, rubbing his chin. "Probably a good idea to tackle this from multiple angles. But a heads up. Torian won't be able to heal if he feels cornered. He'll just fight you every step of the way instead."
Mako sighed. "Gosh… People are so complicated."
Corridan chuckled. "Because you're such a simple person to understand."
Mako's eyes widened and then so did her smile at Corridan's comment. "I retract my statement, and apologize for its insensitivity."
Corridan nodded. "That's right. Good girl. Alright. Guess I'll be here for a while. Where do you want me to bunk?"
Corridan had stood and stretched as he had made his statement. He looked back at Mako who had been half lying, half slouch-sitting in her pilot's seat. But now those amber eyes were on him, all devoid of mirth and instead just a steady gaze fixed on him as she chewed on a nail. Corridan smiled at her as he let his arms fall from his stretch.
"Do you even need to ask?" she said as she stopped chewing on her nail.
Corridan grinned. "It ain't polite to assume. I prefer to ask."
Mako grinned back. "There's only one place you're bunking on this ship."
Mako stood, lithe and as graceful as a Nexu. She held out her hand for his. "Come, let me show you to it."
Corridan pulled her in as he grabbed her hand and began to nibble on her earlobe. "Please do."