Dagger woke up to the sound of quiet, even breaths. Her eyelids felt stuck together as she blinked them open. There wasn't much to see in the pitch-black of the room, so instead she just took in what she could feel. The sheets under her, the light breathing from somewhere off to the side of her, and the quiet hum of the hyperspace drive.
She blinked again and had to rub her eyes to clear the sleep out of them before she sat up. She got to her feet as quietly as possible, feeling around in the darkness. Her shin nudged up against the other bunk and she reached out a hand slowly. Her hand brushed up against hair and she smiled. Now she was able to get an idea of where he was. He was on his side and facing away from her.
Pulling her hand away she turned towards the door. She didn't want to wake him, didn't even know what time it was, so she would head out. The door slid open and the noise sounded deafening.
There was a sharp intake of breath and the rustle of sheets. She looked back to see Rex sitting up and looking at her. She took a second to admire the way that his hair stuck up at an odd angle. She smiled, it had grown out of the buzz cut in the weeks that they had been gone.
"Where are you going," his voice was rough with sleep, he sounded more confused than anything.
"I'm just going out for a minute, go back to sleep. I'll wake you when I'm back."
He nodded sleepily and laid back down. Rex pulled the blanket back over his shoulder and she let the door close behind her. The ship was quiet as she walked around the hall. She ended up in the cockpit, she would have been surprised to end up there, but without a destination in mind it didn't really matter anyway. The hall was a circle so it wasn't hard to get anywhere.
The door swished open and she watched the trails of stars passing by as they cruised through hyperspace. It was rare that she actually got to look out and just take in the sights. There seemed to always be something to do. Lately, however, with this mission, it seemed like she had actually been given some free time. Time to just exist without anything being expected of her, nothing to do.
She found that she liked the change of pace, but she missed being back on the Resolute. She missed her friends. She missed Echo and everyone that she got to see on a daily basis. Her brothers were lightyears away and probably fighting on the frontlines and she was missing it. She was a trooper, a soldier, and she had been given a mission as a spy. It wasn't what she was made for. It wasn't who she was meant to be and she wished she could finish this mission and just get back to her brothers.
Either way she would be with Rex, which was what she wanted. She sighed. When they went back, he would go back to being her Captain and they wouldn't get to share these slow moments together. There were no slow moments in Torrent company.
"Well good morning to you too," came the voice from the pilot's seat.
She blinked her gaze into focus and looked at Jask, "Oh, good morning, sorry."
"Did you sleep," he asked as he gestured for her to sit in the chair beside him. She took the invitation and sat in the plush seat, tucking her feet up under her.
"I did, I'm feeling a lot better after whatever Neems gave me."
Jask looked at her out of the corner of his eye, never really taking his gaze off of the holomap he was looking at, "How much do you remember about last night?"
"After getting poisoned? Almost nothing, I remember shouting but that is about it."
"Probably for the better," Jask confessed, "I'm glad that you are feeling better. Gave Rex quite a scare last night."
She looked down at that, before she could even say anything Jask continued, "Gave us all a scare. Rex took off like a Loth Cat with its tail on fire from the event before we even knew anything was wrong."
"He was doing what he thought was best," she couldn't imagine that Rex had been eager to trust the bounty hunters when she had been poisoned.
"I know, we talked about it. We met with the employer this morning," she held her breath at the news, "Rex told us who he really is and I realized that he had been lying to us about the impact of our missions. So, we are going to do one last job and then you and Rex are going to split."
"What?!"
"I know it's real sad sweetheart, but it's for the better. I can't justify putting you two through even more than you have already been through. And with the new direction that my group is going in now, it's not safe for you both here, especially not Rex."
"And what direction is that," she asked skeptically.
Jask did turn to look at her now, his face serious and tone sincere, "We are going to end the war."
Her breath caught suddenly and her eyes widened, "End the war?"
"Precisely, so with Rex being ex-GAR you can see why I don't want him with us. It would put him in too much danger. As much as I would love for you to stay on, I know better than even suggesting that you two separate."
Her head was reeling. She did not have enough information. What was with Jask's sudden change in career paths? She just stared at him; her mouth slightly ajar.
Jask reached out a hand and closed her mouth for her, then he grabbed her chair to swivel it around so she was facing the door, "I know this is all very exciting stuff and I'm sure Rex would love to fill you in on it. Right now though, I'm trying to plan this mission so Azariah doesn't skin me alive so shoo."
She stood, simply following orders at this point and walked out of the cockpit more confused than when she entered it. She wandered out into the hall until she ran into a familiar body. And by that, she actually ran into Rex. Recognition flashed on both of their faces as they bounced off of each other. She spoke frist, eager to ask, "Have you had a chance to-"
Rex cut her off, "Talk to Jask recently?"
"Uh, yeah," he nodded and she asked, "So what is this all about?"
"While you were asleep, I met with the employer," she perked up at his words, he fixed her with a look that she couldn't distinguish, "You aren't going to like this. Jask's employer is the Vice Chancellor of the Republic."
A chill went down her spine as she breathed out her response, "What?"
"Mas Amedda has hired these bounty hunters, and by extension has hired us, to hunt and capture Separatist and Republic citizens. I haven't had much time to look through the documents yet, but I am willing to bet that he is running or at least funding the prison where they are being held captive."
They were both silent for a moment, he wanted to give her time to process. He knows that he certainly would have liked a bit of a warning before having to immediately face the man in the snow. He could see her eyes flickering with thought. She was probably already trying to legitimize the situation and then start on some sort of plan. She always had something clever to say or some way out of a situation, a different perspective that helped him see something that he hadn't before.
"So is the whole galaxy on drugs now?"
He couldn't hold in the burst of laughter that erupted from his chest at the comment. No dazzling plans this time, but he certainly couldn't blame her. He looped an arm around her shoulders in a half hug, "I think they might be. And if this madness goes on much longer, I think I might need some too."
She scoffed, "I could not imagine you spiced."
"Neither could I," he admitted with a smile.
She didn't pull away from him, instead tilted her head to look up at him, "So what do we do now?"
"One last job. Gather evidence against Amedda. This looks like our best opportunity to get out of this clean, they never need to find out who we are. Then we return to the GAR and report our findings to the Jedi Council. With what we know they will have enough cause to investigate him and remove him from power."
"Sounds simple enough."
She said it as if anything were ever that simple for them. He couldn't help the prickle of nerves that her statement caused. He hoped that it would be simple, he hoped that nothing more went wrong.
~B~
A thud, then a pause. Another thud, then two more. Dagger crouched in waiting in the dark. As soon as the last thud sounded, she clicked on her flashlight. Illuminating the dark metal hallway of the foreign ship. Her four companions crouched with her, she shined her light in Rex's eyes and he swatted at her as she smothered a laugh.
"Pay attention," he hissed at her, "We aren't here to mess around."
"No time for messing around on our very important mission right now," Jask said with crossed arms and a mockingly serious tone.
Azariah pushed his head to the side and he started laughing, "Relax Rex, there is no one here. All we need to do is grab anything of value and plant the charges and ditch. Whatever smuggler owns this ship won't be back for a while."
"The sooner we get this done the better," Rex grumbled, "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Jask's face turned to one of true seriousness, "I understand, lets break off and get this done then. I'm setting the charges for fifteen minutes. We will meet back here in ten, understood?"
They all nodded their acknowledgement. Rex and Dagger separated from the group and went down the ship's hallway towards the lower cargo hold. Their steps were light and breaths silent, the only indication that they were even there was the light from the flashlights.
Rex trusted the scan that Azariah took of the ship that showed no human life signatures aboard, but he still didn't trust that the ship wasn't being monitored. He didn't want to trip any sensors and alert the owner of the ship, it would only complicate what was supposed to be an easy job.
The ship rocked slightly with the waves from the harbor it rested in. He felt the floor move beneath him in a way that was so unfamiliar, ships in space didn't rock like they did in water. The smuggler had retrofitted the space craft to be amphibious so it could blend into ship harbors instead of being in land ports. He had to admit that it was a good cover, but he still didn't like the idea of ships on the water. It just didn't seem to move right compared to a space ship.
The door to the cargo hold slid open with a metallic groan. He shared a glance with Dagger and she wiggled her eyebrows at him. Rex suppressed a sigh that welled up in his chest, evidently he was the only one who had bad feelings about this mission.
There were towers of boxes and crates stacked throughout the room. Light streamed into the room form the grate on the ceiling that led to the main deck of the ship. The blast doors that sealed it were opened and he could smell the salt on the air from the bay even within the hold. The crates towered over them in rather impressive stacks that reached almost all the way to the grate above.
"None of these crates are labeled."
He scanned the crates and saw that Dagger was right, "Then let's get busy opening these up."
Dagger grinned at him and stepped toward the largest crate within reach. She threw the latches open with a flair and Rex rolled his eyes. He turned and made his way to another crate. Reaching for another crate he set his mind to look through just a few crates and get the hell out of this ship before anything could go wrong.
"Oh… FUCK!" Rex wheeled around just in time to see Dagger go flying across the cargo bay. His eyes shot open wide as he watched her sail across the room and crash into another stack of crates knocking the whole thing over.
His pistol was already drawn by the time his eyes made it back to the crate she had just opened. A long tentacle slithered back into the box as every nerve in Rex's body was sent into hyperdrive. Keeping an eye on the box for any sign of continued movement he made his way to Dagger as quick as he could. He reached down and pulled her from the wreckage as she wheezed out a breath.
As soon as she made it up onto her feet an ear-piercing shriek emanated from the crate. The creature spilled out of the crate and rolled out onto the floor in a way that no living thing should move. The hair on the back of Rex's neck stood on end as he saw the rows of teeth and tentacles of a very much alive rathtar.
"What the hell is that thing?" Dagger shrieked.
Another shriek from the creature, "An angry rathtar, I'm more concerned with why it is on this ship?"
The rathtar turned on them and started rolling and slithering forward towards them at an alarming pace. They shared a wide-eyed glance before diving to opposite sides of the cargo hold. The malicious ball of a creature crashed into a wall and the entire compartment shuddered.
Of course, Rex thought, of course they couldn't get a break. Of courser there was a rathtar that was going to be hell bent on killing them. He just wanted to go home and get shot at by droids. That he knew how to deal with, he didn't want to put up with this bullshit anymore.
The creature whipped around with another cry and Dagger could see the creature turn around. Finally able to get her bearings, she drew her blaster and opened fire on the beast. The shots sank into its gruesome flesh but did nothing to deter the creature.
However, the shots did catch the attention of the rathtar and it swiveled and barreled straight towards Dagger. Maybe if she kept shooting at a closer range, she could kill it?
She let out an unsure shout as the thing kept getting closer. Her eyes widened as she realized that the thing was not stopping. Dagger knew that she should move but couldn't bring herself to dodge. The shock of the creature had rooted her to the floor.
Just as the creature was about to ram into her, a force knocked her from the side and tackled her out of the way. The crashed into the ground with a heavy weight on top of her. The fall knocked the wind out of her but also successfully knocked some sense back in. It was the fall or maybe the resounding bang of the creature ramming into the wall.
Her eyes met Rex's for a fraction of a second as she looked up at him. She didn't even have time to thank him before he was scrambling off of her and to his feet. She went to pull herself up as well but he grabbed her by the collar of her chestplate and hauled her to her feet. Letting out a shout of surprise as she looked behind Rex and saw the rathtar embedded in the wall.
"Maybe it will stay stuck?" She asked hopefully.
It was that moment that the rathtar wrenched itself free of the wall and she saw Rex sent her a displeased glare from the corner of her eye. Instead of commenting on her poorly timed words he grabbed a hold of her again and swung her around, lifting her by her belt.
"Climb!" He ordered. She didn't even look back as she started to climb the stack of crates. The stack towered in the cargo hold and she flinched as she heard the rathtar roar beneath them. She got half way up the stack before she dared to stop and look down. Dagger let out a shout as she realized that Rex wasn't following her.
Instead, she saw him running across the hold with the rathtar dangerously close behind. She saw a flopping limb on the ground and realized that it was no longer attacked to the beast. Her eye caught on a glint in Rex's hand. Her own hand flew to her thigh where her dagger was always holstered. Like a shock of electricity her hand passed right through where the weapon lived and she realized that Rex had taken her dagger.
"Rex!" She shouted, he didn't respond as he slid around a corner, narrowly missing a limb that crashed into another stack of crates.
He sprinted back towards the tower she was on. She had just started to climb back down when he reached the base, "No! Up, you have to go up!"
"Do you have a plan?" She shouted in return, she caught a glint in his eye as he reached behind him.
He drew out a grenade from the back of his belt, "Yes, now go!"
Never one to disobey orders she scrambled up the tower of crates, trying to keep one eye below on what was going on. The creature shuddered up against the tower, but miraculously didn't start climbing. Dagger didn't know if it was because it couldn't or if it didn't think they were worth the effort. Rex was climbing up the stack of crates, dagger wedged between his teeth and grenade in one hand.
As if it had locked sights on them it roared up to the pair. Rex took that moment to pull the pin and send the grenade hurtling into the creatures mouth. Once it was finished the thing rolled back as if to get a head start at them. Only for the grenade to detonate in a fiery blast inside of its round body.
Dagger was glad that the blast was too bright to have been able to see the creature explode, all that was left was a pile of smoking goo against the wall. She shared a look with Rex, he let out a sigh of relief and she felt herself relax for a second. She reached out and gently took her dagger from Rex's mouth. He relaxed slightly.
Then the room went red, the emergency lights flashed to life and the cargo doors snapped shut. The wail of a siren sounded and Dagger looked around frantically, "Was it the blast?"
Rex had to shout over the siren, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of a computerized voice that stated, "Hull integrity compromised, evacuation required."
"What now?" Rex shouted, clearly exasperated at this point. Then he took a closer look at the blast sight as realized that the floor was shinier than it was supposed to be.
"Down! Down now, we have to get out of here," he shouted and they both scrambled to get down from the crate. Even with the short time it took for them to get down the water was already up to their knees. They had to splash through the water to get to the door. Dagger slammed her fist against the door as Rex examined the control panel.
"It's locked."
She stilled at his words, looking over slowly, "You can't override it?"
He shook his head, "I could try to blast it, but I don't know if it will work."
"Why would blasting the control panel work?"
He shook his head, "Because I don't know what else to do to get this door open."
The water brushed up to her ribs, filling her with dread, "Might as well try it."
Rex did, a precise shot to the panel. They both looked to the door as it connected. Nothing happened and the panel was fried. A low simmering panic started to rise in her along with the water around her.
Rex must have been able to see it in his eyes, "Call Jask on your comm, they should still be in the ship. They had to have heard the blast."
She pulled her arm out of the water and saw her comm in pieces on her vambrace, she looked up at him in dread, "It had to have broken when that thing threw me across the room."
He swiped a hand down his face in frustration, fingers leaving his skin wet. The water was almost to his shoulders and was approaching Dagger's chin, "Ok, ok, well the water has to be coming in from somewhere. We can get out that way."
She nodded and they swam towards the wall that was currently letting in the harbor. Dagger could feel worry gripping her chest as she realized that the water was now too deep for her to set her feet down anymore.
They got to the wall and Rex took a breath before plunging under the surface. He swam down and placed hand against the wall. The water was being sucked in so hard he had to continuously kick to remain close to it. Through all the bubbles he could see the hole in the hull. His heart sank as he realized that it couldn't be more than a foot and a half wide.
He grabbed onto the shredded metal and tried to pry it inward. Even planting his feet on the wall he pulled at it but the metal didn't even budge. Forced back to the surface, he gasped in a breath as his head broke free of the water. Rex found her treading water near him, looking expectantly.
"It's not wide enough to get through. I don't have my comm or another grenade. It was supposed to be an easy mission. I didn't think we would need it," he didn't need to explain, but he felt like he owed her an explanation. He could see her running through the possibilities of their situation, see her trying to find different ways out.
She looked below the surface, "Maybe together we can get it open?"
It seemed to be a futile idea but he wasn't going to shoot anything down at this point. He nodded, they took in a synchronized breath and dove down. The hole was getting further and further beneath the surface. They grabbed the jagged edge of the metal, both planting their feet on the wall and pulling. The ripped edge groaned under the strain and Rex felt a glimmer of hope. They tugged again and it moved a fraction of an inch.
He saw Dagger's eyes widen. They tugged on it again and the metal screeched, then the piece ripped free of the wall. Now there was nothing except smooth wall and nothing to even pull. The hole was still nowhere near big enough to fit through.
Dagger broke away first and Rex followed her back to the surface. Taking in a sputtering breath he blinked the water from his eyes. After a moment to breath Dagger gasped, "It's not going anywhere."
He shook his head. Looking around he saw the stack of crates they were on earlier still protruded from the water. With a jerk of his head towards it he said, "Come on."
Paddling over to the crate tower, they pulled themselves out of the water. Rex looked up, they were just under a grate that appeared to lead to the deck to the ship. The scrambled up the boxes until there was nowhere left to climb. Rex reached up and pressed his hands to the grate. Nothing, no latch, no lock, no movement. Just a slab of metal with holes too small for even a finger to get through.
"JASK!" Dagger yelled, "JASK!"
There was no response, no sound other than the burbling of water steadily rising to meet them at the top of their perch. Rex pounded against the grate, calling out again. He got nothing out of it except pain in his hands. He looked to Dagger, seeing helplessness reflected back at him in her eyes. The dread in his own heart only settled deeper and the feeling threatened to consume him as the water rose higher and higher.