Fighting against the darkness seemed like the hardest part, Dagger clawed her way back to consciousness. There was something wrong. Something was wrong and she had to do something. The only problem was that her mind was not working with her at the moment. She just couldn't figure out what the problem is, or was.
When she did finally reach consciousness, the pain hit her like a truck. She let out a strangled groan. Her face and stomach had the worst pain, both were sticky with blood. She heard shifting next to her and asked, "Echo, are you okay?"
She heard a sudden jerk of movement and heard his voice, "Who's there?"
She opened her eyes and everything was blurry. She could just make out his shape, her voice was raspy and foreign to her own ears, "Echo."
The light was dim, the sun must have set by now. She wondered why there was any light at all, it was red and flickering, fire maybe? Even the dim light was bright to her. She felt a hot breeze on her face.
A breeze that she should not have been able to feel. Realization slammed into Dagger, her helmet had been blown to pieces. The front was in shards, most gone, others embedded in her face. She gasped when she understood what had happened and tried to turn away as far as she could so Echo wouldn't see her face. She had to get up, she had to move.
"Dagger? Are you okay?" Echo sat up finally, not nearly as injured as she was. He was trying to get his bearings back after knocking his head into the wall. His head pounded, but at least he could still think straight.
He saw the red all over his partner's armor. Echo tried to roll him over, but Dagger wouldn't budge. He resisted Echo's pulls, trying to get away, even though it caused more pain.
"Hey, Dagger you've got to roll over. You're injured real bad, let me help," he pleaded gently.
She shook her head, but couldn't keep in the sob of pain that escaped her lips. Echo's eyes narrowed in concern, he grabbed his partner's shoulder in the least injured place he could find and turned Dagger over to face him. Echo laid his partner onto his back as gently as he could.
He covered his mouth in horror, Dagger was covered in so much blood. Wood chips from the door and armor from his helmet piercing his skin.
Dagger's chest plate had been blown apart, leaving him in his blacks from the waist up. It was hard to tell what was injured in the low light and quick scan, but it didn't look good.
Soon, he got to Dagger's face. Echo realized that his partner's facial features, underneath all the blood, were not what he was used to. Instead of seeing his own face mirrored back in some way, he saw someone completely different. Someone feminine, but not altogether foreign. Everything clicked into place like a puzzle piece. All the hiding, all of his partner's odd actions. It all made sense now, why couldn't she have told him?
"Dagger," he whispered, his voice breaking, "Why?"
Her eyes were squeezed shut and she let out a whimper of pain, "Echo, it hurts."
He shook his head, it didn't matter right now. What mattered was that he got Dagger the help he, no she, needed. He switched on his helmet lights as he put it back on to see better. He pulled out his first aid kit and on the ground before he pulled Dagger into his lap. Echo looked down at her injuries, his mind threatened to spiral into a hysterical panic. He had to take in a deep breath to regain control. How had everything gone so wrong?
As gently as he could, Echo pulled the remnants of her helmet off, stuffing it into his pack hurriedly. He knew it was painful on her cuts and tried to be done with it as fast as he could.
Her short hair was matted to her head with sweat and blood. It was even shorter than Tup's hair he realized. A slight fade from around the ears up into a bulk of about three inches at the top.
While wiping away some of the still oozing blood he commed Central Command, "Charlie Squad, requesting immediate medical assistance. At least one injured."
There was no response through the communicator. Dagger weakly grabbed for his wrist, not able to make contact because of her blurred vision. There was too much blood and grime to see through, "Please, don't tell them."
"Now is not the time to be thinking about that Dagger. I have to get you help or you might," he choked on the word he was about to say, "I need to get you help. That is the only thing that matters. I will take care of everything. I will take care of you."
She coughed and looked up at him, pleading. He couldn't hold her gaze, there was so much pain in his partner's eyes. He couldn't take it.
Why did it have to be Dagger? He should have been faster to warn her, he should have been able to protect her. If given the option, he would have taken all of her injuries on himself in an instant.
Echo pushed all of his thoughts and emotions down deep. Focus. He cleaned her face and could see shards embedded in her skin. Being as gentle as possible, he wiped her eyelids, "Dagger, can you open your eyes for me? Can you see better now?"
She nodded, her eyes opened and revealed a dark brown color that was filled with pain. Her breath hitched, "Echo. I- I can't breath. Echo, it hurts."
His brow furrowed, "It was a bad blast, you probably broke some ribs. Oh stars, Dagger, oh no."
He had just spotted something bad, very bad. There was a large fragment of shrapnel embedded in Dagger's lower stomach, it was bleeding profusely.
"Command, please respond. Can you send medical to our location?" he asked urgently.
"ETA ten minutes to your current location," was the quick response.
Echo set to work wrapping the injury as best as he could while not disturbing the shrapnel in the wound. There was no chance that he was pulling it out. Never pull out shrapnel, it could cut more on the way out and the victim could bleed out faster. That was not an option. As soon as he was finished, he was satisfied that his partner wouldn't bleed out in his arms in the next five minutes. He went back to tending her other injuries to the best of his ability.
"Echo," she croaked, he met her eyes filled with worry, "Listen, droids."
Echo's blood ran cold, the clank of droids' footsteps sounded from behind the house, getting closer and closer. It had to be a whole battalion.
Dagger unsheathed the dagger at her thigh, "We can fight them off."
Echo shook his head and quickly took the dagger from her hand and put it back in its holster. He packed all his supplies with speed and efficiency, "Not this time Dagger. Not like this. We have to get out of here."
She wanted to argue, but decided against it when a tremor of pain from her stomach ran up her body. She tried to push herself up as Echo snapped the last of his supplies back into his pack.
He swiftly looped his arms behind her back and under her legs and stood. This was the only way he could think of to hold her without aggravating the injury in her abdomen further. Before she could even protest, he was running out of the shattered door frame and through the village towards the woods.
Whimpering at the jerky movements, she stayed as still as possible, arms around Echo's neck as he ran. She went to look out at the courtyard for any of their brothers. Echo pulled her in closer, "Don't look."
He had already seen the shattered remains of his brothers as he had stepped out the door into the night. Tears were pricking at his eyes, he would be haunted for a long time to come at the broken bodies he had seen in the courtyard. There was no chance that they had survived and as much as it hurt, he certainly didn't have time to check.
Dagger didn't need that image to haunt her too, no one did. He was grateful when she obeyed and tucked her head closer to his chest. Echo swallowed thickly, choking down his emotions.
Fear lanced up his spine and threatened to overcome him as he heard the metallic steps of droids getting closer and closer. There were no laser blasts being fired at them so he could assume that they hadn't been spotted yet.
"Command, location not safe. Moving elsewhere, Echo going dark."
He heard the operator start to protest but he quickly turned off the comm so that the droids wouldn't be able to track the signal to them.
Echo ran and ran, he was desperate to get away, the cover of the forest trees provided him with some comfort and the sound of droids lapsed into the distance.
He didn't want to attract the attention of the droids with his helmet lights so he turned them off and switched to night vision on his helmet. The light from the burning fire faded behind him as he ran further and further away.
His legs pumped, keeping him moving at a steady pace. He focused on his breathing, fighting hard to keep it steady as his muscles burned. He was grateful for his ARC training at that moment.
Desperate, all he was thinking of was getting far enough away. Had to get away. Had to keep his partner safe. Dagger needed to be safe.
He felt a hand reach up and hold his neck. He slowed himself to a halt and looked down at Dagger who was looking up at him. Her eyes were so scared, so full of pain, but she still had the strength to nod at him reassuringly, "They aren't following us."
He nodded, panting heavily. He sat them both down, his back against a tree, cradling Dagger's small body in his lap. She tried to say something else to him but her words stuttered and were taken over by a terrible gasping. Coughing and choking on her own blood. Red droplets sprayed from her mouth and onto his face as she tried to hold it in.
She got it under control, but there was only so much that her injured body could handle. Her head swayed and her vision blackened. In the distance, she could hear Echo call out for her attention. He needed her to stay awake, he needed her. She was too far gone and passed into unconsciousness, leaving Echo alone in the forest.
"Dagger! Dagger! Please, you have to stay awake!" he pleaded with her as she went limp in his arms. He tore off his helmet and pressed his head to her chest. It was hard to tell through the remnants of armor but he could hear her heartbeat.
He tried to signal for Command, the med ship, for Captain Rex, for anyone. There was no response, a dead spot in the forest. He was alone in the woods and they were not safe. He picked up Dagger once more and with trembling arms started to walk deeper into the forest.
~B~
The communicator finally gave a beep to indicate that there was a signal. He made a call to command to tell them where he was. They already had a gunship ready with a team of medics and sent it immediately.
Echo looked down at Dagger. She leaned up against him as he sat with his back to a tree. He had been trying to wake her with no success when the comm had alerted him. Through the darkness he heard the whirring of the gun ship as it started to lower into the clearing that he sat in.
He squinted up at the spotlight that was shining down at them. Echo looked down at her face, illuminated by the bright white light still smeared with dirt and blood. He whispered an apology to her as the ship landed.
She had asked him to not tell anyone, but there was no way for the medics to treat her without knowing. If it was between her secret and her life he would choose her life every single time. Even if Dagger would never speak to him again, it would be worth it, she would be alive.
Echo's thoughts ran wild as he lowered her onto the gurney that was placed in front of him. As soon as they were both on board the ship the medical staff surrounded Dagger. Echo was separated and he lost sight of Dagger.
"No! No! DAGGER! What's happening?" he started to panic. He tried to barge his way through the medics. He couldn't see her, was she still alright?
He was pulled off by one of them, who forced him down onto one knee. He forced Echo to look right at him while he shined a small pen light in his eyes, "Look at me soldier. If you don't calm down I'm going to have to sedate you and then you won't be able to see your friend for hours. Is that what you want?"
Echo snapped out of his frenzy and shook his head. The medic smiled, clicking off the light "That's what I thought."
He looked up, puzzled as the medic offered his hand, "I don't know your name."
The medic gave a short laugh, "I just joined the 501st. We got called to this mission before I could introduce myself. The name's Cobalt, I'll be helping Kix in the medbay."
"I'm Echo," he responded as he accepted his hand.
Once standing, he heard yelling from the other medics. Dagger was going into shock. There was a flurry of commotion and he caught a glimpse of her. Pale and small on the gurney, an oxygen mask on her face.
They landed at what was apparently the base camp and quickly unloaded Dagger, transferring her immediately to a medical ship to be taken to the medbay on the Resolute.
Echo followed as closely as he could but he was soon stopped with a firm hand on his shoulder. It was Jesse. Had he not seen Dagger go by just seconds ago?
"Echo we need to go!" he shouted over the sound of gunship engines.
"What?" Echo was still dazed. Where were they going?"
"Vod, where have you been? Everyone has been asking about Charlie squad. Alpha needs your squad and mine to help them take the Capital. We need to go now!"
Jesse's words weren't making any sense to him, the Capital? Why was Alpha squad in the Capital? His look of confusion must have been enough to cause Jesse to explain more.
The tattooed clone pulled Echo along, they boarded the gunship as he explained, "General Skywalker wanted to take the Capital tonight while we still had the element of surprise. Most of my squad is already there. Is yours on the way? Where is Dagger?"
Echo almost lost it at the questions. He wanted to break down and cry. Everyone was dead and Dagger was fighting for her life. He just found out her secret and was being thrown back into the hell that was battle. His hands shook, emotions threatened to boil over.
There were no words to explain to Jesse what had happened. If he even tried he would lose the precarious control he had. If he didn't have a level head he could get himself killed on the battlefield. Then he would never see Dagger, never see Fives, never see anything again.
As if a switch was flipped in him he shut off all of his emotions. His eyes focused forward and he squared his shoulders. He put on his helmet and refused to answer Jesse's questions. The other man looked at him with worry, he knew that look and he knew that something had gone wrong.
There was no more time as the gunship dropped down and the blast doors opened. There was a fierce battle going on below. Blaster shots flashing across the open streets, General Skywalker and Commander Tano were at the front of the charge. Blue and green lightsabers causing streaks of light in the darkness.
Echo, Jesse, and all of the other troopers jumped from the gunship and landed on the open street. Echo spotted blue painted soldiers through the haze of grenades and smoke.
A soldier with double pauldrons spotted them and waved them over to cover hastily. Echo stumbled slightly, everything seemed off kilter. Nothing had gone right today. He skidded to his knees next to Fives, leaning heavily on his brother. He pulled his helmet forward until they were both pressing together.
Fives responded by pushing his helmet forward gently to reciprocate the action, "Echo, what happened?"
He just shook his head, tearing away from his hold. He could feel Five's worried stare through his painted helmet. He focused on the battlefield in front of him, "What have we got, Fives?"
"What we got is a metric fuck ton of droids bearing down on us here. We need reinforcements. It's a good thing you boys showed up when you did,"
They stepped up and started to slowly make their way into the masses of the droids. They circled, back to back, making sure that no droids got the drop on them as they advanced.
"Make your way to the Capital building," came the order over the comm channel, it was General Skywalker. He could be spotted at the front of the charge. Rex fired over the General's right shoulder and led the rest of Torrent company on their attack.
With a nod Echo and Fives advanced, making their way towards the ranking officers of their company. By the time they made it to the building they were panting heavily.
The droids had circled around them and were starting to advance. Once everyone was inside, the General waved his hand and the blast doors of the building came crashing down. They were locked inside, the only openings were small firing windows carved out of the walls, built specifically for an enemy attack.
Echo's heart was racing. He sagged against the wall, out of the way. Fives went to go update Rex on the situation, promising to return soon. He really didn't want to leave his brother alone, but he had to go update Rex.
"Sir there are three battalions of droids out there right now. We have Alpha and Bravo squad with us. Fighters are inbound from the northern battlefront," Fives reported.
Rex looked at the holomap projecting from his wrist brace, "How long until the droids have overrun us?"
"Best guess? Twenty minutes."
"ETA on the fighter squadron?"
Fives smiled, "ETA five minutes with full loads of ammunition and explosives."
"If they don't get all the droids we will need to clean up the remains. Why hasn't Charlie squad reported in yet? I thought I saw Echo."
Fives paused, he didn't know the answer to that. He just looked over to Echo where he was leaning against the wall. The ARC trooper was facing the wall, arms up and crossed, leaning his head into them.
"He's not lookin' too hot right now," Rex said, "I'll be right back Fives."
"As if I'm not coming with you," he scoffed, that was his best friend after all.
Rex accepted without comment and made his way over to Echo. He rested a hand on the trooper's shoulder and frowned when he felt the man's muscles twitch slightly. He tried to ask gently, "Echo, where is your squad?"
He just grit his teeth and looked away from the Captain, even just the question brought the images of bloody bodies to the front of his mind. His head pounded and his body ached.
The only thing he could think of was Dagger laying in his arms, shrapnel protruding from her gut. That was barely a half hour ago. Now she had been taken from him. He had no idea what was happening with her. Was she still alive? Was she safe? Would she still be alive when he saw her next?
Fingers snapped in front of his nose, he looked up at Rex. Since when had he sat down? Why was Rex looking at him like that?
"Echo? Can you hear me? Where is Charlie squad? Are they coming?"
"Coming? Are they coming," anger rose in Echo. Draining what little energy he had left. His voice got louder and he practically shouted at Rex, "They aren't coming, Rex! They're DEAD! DEAD BECAUSE OF ME!"
He paused to breath, chest heaving with exertion. He choked on his next words, "Dagger. Dagger is…"
"ECHO!" the call rang out from across the room. Echo's vision was torn away, looking for the source of the sound. He was unsure of who would be calling for him.
Rex on the other hand had a glazed look in his eyes. He stared straight ahead, it felt like a rock had just been dropped through his gut. Dead? Dagger was dead?
How could that have happened? Dread coursed through him and he wanted to scream. Wanted to kick, punch, and cry. How could this war be so cruel?
He hadn't even been able to come to terms with what he felt for Dagger, much less tell him. Now he was gone. The world seemed to fade out of focus as he was trapped in his mind.
Rex didn't even notice the interaction that happened in front of him. A trooper came striding up quickly, the one who had called Echo's attention away before he had finished his sentence. His helmet was divided vertically with designs. The right side was blank, but on his left the entire surface was covered with intricate crystal designs. A red medic symbol was painted onto his shoulder armor.
The medic came up and grabbed Echo, pulling him to his feet. Echo just looked at him blankly, "Who are you?"
"Oh my stars, are all of you in Torrent company so stupid? I had to track you down all the way from base camp?"
"Cobalt?" Echo asked.
"I'm surprised you aren't dead already," he turned on Rex and Fives, "And you two, why in the universe did you let a man with a concussion back onto the battlefield. And ALSO he could go into shock at any moment from psychological trauma."
"Concussion?" Fives asked, confused.
"Shock?" Rex parroted back.
"Captain I am going to be having a word about this with Kix later, but for now this trooper is coming with me. He needs to be in a hospital, not a battlefield. I didn't even get a chance to tell him to stay put before he had already run out on me," Cobalt seemed to be quite upset at the whole situation.
"It's not the Captain's fault," Echo protested, finally registering what was happening in front of him, "Jesse said that they needed help so I came. It's what we do. No one is to blame."
"Either way, you still shouldn't be here. Let's go," Cobalt started to release Echo from where he had been holding him against the wall, but he immediately started to sag back down.
Echo looked down at his legs, also confused as to why they weren't working. Cobalt let out a huff from behind his helmet. He quickly bent over, wrapping an arm behind Echo's knees and grabbing an arm with another. He hoisted him over his shoulder and quickly strode away.
Echo was surprisingly pliant and didn't even complain as Cobalt lifted him in the air and carried him away. Fives watched him go, information streaming through his head at light speed.
Next to Fives, Rex was having a tough time as well. His knees buckled and he slid down to the ground. His face screwed up in pain and he ground the heels of his hands into his eye sockets.
Wetness collected onto his dirty gloves and his shoulders hitched. His breathing was erratic and he couldn't stop the tears that were falling from his eyes.
Fives sank to his knees, facing Rex. He put his hands on Rex's shoulders, "Hey, hey Rex. Please don't cry, you are gonna scare the men. You are scaring me. It's gonna be ok. It's ok."
The Captain looked up at him with bloodshot eyes, "Dagger is dead Fives. How is it ok? All of Charlie squad is gone."
Fives' lip trembled, he didn't want to accept that, "Maybe Echo was mistaken. He has been known to make an occasional mistake before. Right now we need to make sure we keep those clankers at bay so we can get the kriff out of here, ok?"
Rex nodded, he swiped at his face, clearing the evidence of his uncharacteristic breakdown. He stood in time with the ARC trooper. He squared his shoulders and secured his helmet back on his head.
"Let's get to work Fives," he nodded to the man.
Fives let out a relieved sigh, trying to lighten the mood he joked, "Oh good, Rex is back. I was starting to worry for a minute there Cap."
Rex just nudged his shoulder in response. He looked out one of the tall windows and could see bomber ships flying up in formation. It was as if they were following the roads and going in for a landing.
Instead of doing that, however, they opened the bomb bays and unleashed hell on the droids. Firebombs were dropped over every single platoon and squad of tinnies.
"Oddball never misses," Rex stated. The pilot twirled in craft in the air after finishing the run. A bit unnecessary, but it was like a victory dance to the skilled pilot. At least someone was having a good day.
They headed back to the General, he was scanning the area with R2D2 for any remaining droids. He declared that the droids were all destroyed. It would seem that the battle had been won.
As the gun ships started to land to take them back to the Resolute. Rex looked around to try and see who all was coming home. Gurneys being loaded into the ships. He spotted Echo sitting up on one. Cobalt was standing in front of him with crossed arms, as if to make sure that he didn't escape again.
He had to hand it to the medic, he was serious about his job if he had tracked down Echo through an active battlefield just to yell at him.
Rex looked out at the now rising sun. The colors were beautiful. He sighed, many had not made it through the night to be able to see it. How many had they lost?
All of Charlie squad except for Echo. All nine, he wanted to know what had happened. How had Dagger died? He could hardly even believe it had happened, how was he supposed to understand what had caused it.
There were so many things that he still wanted to say to so many of his men. So many things that he wanted to say to Dagger, things that the man would never hear. His heart ached at all of the things that were left unsaid.
He was walking in a haze as he exited the gunship and started to walk along the hangar of the Resolute. If he had known it was the last time he would ever see Dagger he would have done a lot more than just wave to him as their squads went in separate directions. He would have run to Dagger and hugged him as hard as he could. He would have sent him back to the Resolute, cancelled the entire mission. He would have done anything he could to keep him safe.
He would have told him about his feelings. Rex would have told Dagger how much he cared. All he ever wanted for his men was safety and happiness. For Dagger he wanted to give him the world, he wanted to be the one to care for Dagger. Now he would never have the chance to say or show him any of that.
The last time he had seen Dagger alive felt like an eternity ago. They had all left at twilight. Now the sun was rising almost a full 12 hours later.
~B~
Kix pushed the gurney as fast as he was willing to go. Corric worked on the oxygen bag filling Dagger's lungs with air. The ride back to the Resolute had been a rough one. Dagger had gone into shock before the ship had even left the atmosphere.
Her pulse was rapid and her skin sweaty and cold. Her eyes had opened a few times on the way, but had never remained so for long. Dagger's vision was unfocused and Kix could tell that she didn't quite know what was going on. All she could feel was the pain.
In the medbay they transferred her onto the surgery table. Armor and fabric was cut away to reveal the injuries to her torso. Metal shrapnel, long and jagged in her abdomen.
Kix instructed Corric to give her a pain killer. There was no time for a sedative and he didn't want to try with the amount of blood she may have lost. They needed to get the shrapnel out and stop the bleeding before they could give her a blood transfusion.
It was a good thing she was unconscious anyway. With the painkiller starting to take effect the medics prepared for surgery. Kix shivered as he realized they would have to cut Dagger open more to be able to get it out.
There was a possibility of a severed abdominal aorta, if so this was going to be an intense surgery. They had to work quickly.
With a nod from Kix the medical droid began its surgery procedure. Using a laser scalpel it opened the wound just wide enough to ease the metal out. Kix gasped as blood pulsed out of the wound. The aorta had been cut in some way.
The medical droid was a whirl of instruments, a cauterizer was used where applicable and stitches in other cases. The droid noted that there was puncturing of the intestines. It sewed up the damage and checked to make sure nothing had escaped that could cause sepsis.
Just as the droid started to sew up the lacerated skin a noise erupted from the heart monitor that sent chills down Kix's spine. A monotone beep, no variation, a flat noise.
Dagger had flat lined. Kix jumped forward and immediately started cpr, "No! You are not gonna die tonight!"
Corric charged the defibrillator, he pushed Kix to the side and made sure nothing was touching her body, "Clear!"
Dagger's body jumped as the electricity coursed through her body in an attempt to restart her heart. Still no heartbeat. Another medic droid moved forward to pump the oxygen bag to give air to her lungs. Kix continued chest compressions while the defibrillator recharged.
Another shock and her back arched off the table before dropping back down. No result. Kix put everything he had into the compressions, "Please Dagger, no. You are not allowed to die. You can't not when you have all those brothers out there counting on you. Not when you dying would devastate every single one of us."
Another shock, nothing.
"You have to survive, you have to fight. You damn soldiers don't know how to do anything else. You have to fight Dagger, I know you can do it."
Corric pressed the paddles to her chest, looking at Kix for confirmation to continue. The medic nodded. No heartbeat.
"Fight Dagger! Please we need you."
Another shock, the tone of a flatline droned into the night. Drowning out every other sound of the medbay. No heartbeat only meant one thing and no one was willing to say it.