:Last time; Sasha's fever got worse.

Now: They find a cave for the night.

Chapter 23- Is It Over?

Viran sat anxiously in the copilot's seat of the Shadow Runner as they were finishing their long three days of travel to Myrkr. Any moment now, they were due to arrive at the planet, but the seconds ticked on forever as he nervously tapped his foot, waiting for them to exit from hyperspace. The thought of seeing Sasha and Oppie again soon made his stomach flip as he, like everyone else in their family, missed them both so much and was so worried about how they were faring. Also the thought that they could actually be victim to an actual hunt down on the planet. All of it made his body twitch with anxious energy as he stared out at the swirls of hyperspace as they finally dissolved away to reveal the planet before them.

Viran's brow creased as he looked at the planet. "So… that's Myrkr," he said, almost uncertain. There was something off about the planet.

"Yep." Kyr said from the pilot's seat.

From the engineer's seat behind Viran, Cien looked out the cockpit window at the planet with a frown, but said nothing.

"Hey guys, welcome to the party." Illara's voice came over the comline.

"Have you guys found anything?" Viran asked, quickly.

"No." Kitsu said over the line. "It's just a continent full of jungle, we have been trying to narrow the search. Maybe with all three ships we might be able to cover a wider area?"

Viran deflated in his seat as if he had been punched in the gut.

"Sounds good." Kyr said, glancing back at Scamp, "You guys think your U-Wing can aid us?"

"Yeah, I can go detach us and get a sweep going," Scamp said from the hatchway. "Come on," He said to Kelce and Nova.

"We'll let you know when we are in position," Nova said as she stood from the navigator's seat from behind Kyr before following Kelce and Scamp out to the hatchway that connected their two ships.

"This planet feels so wrong." Cien said, finally as the others left. "I've haven't felt a void like this in the Force since we were at that blackhole." She said quietly.

Viran glanced back at her on that. "I really don't like it. And I can't imagine how Sasha and Oppie feel down there."

"Well maybe we can ask them in a little while." Kyr said, looking between the two of them with a little bit of worry. They seemed so unsettled. But he supposed that for them it was like losing their sight and hearing to not be able to use the Force. "Kitsu, can you send the data on where you've searched over to Tac? Maybe he and QT can figure out a search pattern."

"Sure. We'll cross link it over to you so they can help sift through the data." Kitsu replied.

"Sounds good." Kyr replied.

"How long do you think this will take?" Viran asked.

Kyr frowned, not sure what to say. "I'm sure it won't be too long." He finally settled on.

Viran nodded as he turned his gaze back to the viewport and to the planet. "Hang on, Sash. We're here," He mumbled to himself as he took a breath and got ready to wait.

Sasha had never felt so miserable before. Her body was exhausted, her injuries felt numb, and this fever was only making matters worse. The bacta shot she had taken earlier helped with her aching body and with the fatigue, but it did little to lessen the fever. In fact, she was sure that she was getting cold sweats and shivers as her body temperature was steadily getting higher and higher. And this trek up the mountain was too much for her current state. She knew she told Oppie she could make it, but that was when the bacta had given her a quick burst of energy to help her move. Now the bacta was wearing off and she could feel her body grow heavy with each step. She knew she had to tell Oppie, but she wanted to find shelter or something for the night. However, even her stubborn urge was weak under this fever. Finally, she had to say something as she could feel herself leaning heavier on her crutch, hearing the poor wood groan as if it was going to break with the next step she would take.

"Op, can we please stop?" She asked, tiredly.

Oppie came to a stop and looked back at her. "Of course, I'm sorry." He said, moving back a few steps to meet her.

"Thanks," Sasha panted as her legs wobbled. She reached up and wiped the sweat running down her face. She really did feel warm to the touch. "How much further?"

Oppie looked around. They were getting further up into the mountains, but their trade off was that there were less trees, they were more exposed. They could see more of the world around them, but they needed to find some kind of shelter for the night.

"I don't know." He paused for a moment. "Would you feel safe here if I scouted forward a little bit, to see if there's something we can settle in? Otherwise we might go back down to that overhang we passed a while ago if there's nothing better up here."

"I think so," Sasha said. She then patted her hip where her blaster sat there holstered. "I've still got this."

"Okay." He said, looking around, his guard still up. "Keep it in your lap, and shoot anything that isn't me. I mean it." He insisted. "Or the family." He added after a moment.

"I will," Sasha said, sinking down onto a nearby boulder and producing the blaster, doing as Oppie instructed. "Be careful."

"You too." He said as he turned and continued up the path.

Sasha watched him go before looking around at the view before them. As she stared out at the jungle before her, her vision slowly started to blur. Her fever was getting worse. And now that she was relaxing for a moment, everything was catching up with her. Her exhaustion. The pain of her injuries. Her fever and the fatigue. All of that together messed with her perception of time as she didn't realize how much time had passed. Because even though she sat there for a few minutes, it felt longer than that. And then she felt the rest of her strength leave her body as even sitting was too much. She slipped down the boulder and collapsed to the ground.

Oppie shook her a little frantically. "Sasha?" He asked, with fear in his voice.

Sasha opened her eyes in a panic and looked around, only to find Oppie above her. "What happened? How long was I out?" She asked, her voice shaking with confusion and a hint of fear.

"I've been gone for fifteen minutes or so." Oppie said, "are you okay?" He asked.

"I don't know. I just feel tired… and warm," Sasha explained in a daze. "I'm sorry, I think it's the fever doing this. Were you able to find anything?"

"Yeah, there's a cave near the river up ahead. It's not too far." He said worriedly. "Maybe we can just settle down there and hold out until help arrives." He suggested.

"I like that idea," Sasha said with a sigh of relief.

"Do you feel like heading there now or do you want to rest for a little while?" He asked.

"I think I can make it there now," Sasha said. "If I rest now, I don't know if I could make it later." She admitted with a grimace.

"Okay." He said with a grimace. He offered his hand out to steady her while she rose.

Sasha struggled to her feet with his help. Once on her feet, she reached for her crutch and placed it back under her arm, but she still didn't feel steady enough on her feet as she leaned on her crutch.

"Thanks," Sasha said, her voice shaking.

"No problem." Oppie said, wrapping his arm under her free arm to help her along. "I know this is supposed to be our vacation. But maybe we could have another one after this." He said quietly. Knowing he was probably recycling a joke but too tired himself to think of anything more.

"I still like that idea, but I just want to go home," Sasha admitted tiredly.

"Same." Oppie said. He was too tired and worn to come up with any other conversation as they continued on over the terrain, the path wasn't too steep, but it was made up of loose stones and scree that made their footing a little difficult. Under normal circumstances it would have been a light hike, but as they were it was a struggle. The cave looked like it had been washed out by the river before it had chosen a new course. It wasn't very deep, but it gave them shelter, a luxury they hadn't had since they had gotten to this planet. It seemed like a blessing though, considering how poor their luck had seemed so far. The mouth of the cave soon came into view, and as they went through, they were able to go several meters deeper into the cave before Oppie spoke.

"This seem okay?" He asked Sasha.

"Yeah," Sasha said with a weak nod.

Oppie helped her settle down to the floor of the small cavern. Sasha sat down against the wall of the cave with an audible sigh and rested back, spent. He shrugged off the packs and settled down next to her, then grabbed the first aid kit. "Did we have anything else in here that might help?" He asked idly.

"I don't know," Sasha said, only shrugging her left shoulder. "Should we… should we check on it? My shoulder, I mean. And the infection." She asked, gesturing to her right shoulder.

"Yeah, we should." He said, adjusting to kneel at her shoulder so he could unwrap the bandage.

Sasha reached up and moved her jacket and top aside like before, and he helped where he could. He worked the bandage away to reveal the deep claw marks. The skin around the marks were bruised, but also a sickly yellow color. And the marks themselves were bleeding in some spots slightly and in other spots there was puss seeping out from the infection. Sasha felt herself get dizzy just looking at it as a small wave of nausea set in.

Oppie froze for a second, "I'm sorry Sash." He said, then he reached for the first aid kit, to pull more disinfectant wipes out.

"It's okay," she mumbled as she tried to keep her composure and not throw up.

He opened one of the wipes and started patting down the wounds gently, trying to clean what he could. "We're going to rest here. This is a good defensible position for whatever else is going to come our way. You don't have to move anymore." He said quietly, deeply worried.

Sasha sighed in relief at that, relaxing against the wall of the cave. "Thank the Force. I'm so, so tired, Op."

"I'm sorry I pushed you too hard." He said.

"It's not your fault," she said. "It's mine. I pushed myself too hard so I wasn't a burden to you. And look where that got me."

"It's not your fault Sasha, none of this is your fault." He said, having cleaned her wound as best he could, and looking for more bandaging to use to cover the claw marks again.

"I know you've been saying that," Sasha said. "I don't know why though, but I still feel like it is."

"Well it's not." Oppie said, wrapping the bandage over her arm. "It's the fault of that…" Oppie looked for the right word and failed, "that guy that brought us here."

"I know," she said. "I still wish we knew more information about all of this. About why we are here and why all this happened." She said, sadly.

"Well maybe we'll get to find out some day." He said tiredly.

"Yeah maybe," Sasha said, letting her jacket and shirt go. "I kind of wish we could have asked the hunters about it. I mean I feel like the one brother kept talking about capturing me, but I didn't catch much else."

"Yeah, none of them seemed like they were interested in a conversation." Oppie observed as he finished the wrapping and leaned back against the cave wall next to her. "Except the assassin droid, he wouldn't be quiet."

Sasha chuckled lightly at that. "Well I still wish I knew, but I'm also somewhat okay not knowing," she said.

"Yeah, it doesn't matter right now." Oppie replied.

Sasha nodded and rested her head back. She felt so tired like she could barely move. Could she even move again? And her fever made her feel even weaker. "Op… thank you for taking care of me," she said as a shiver and cold sweats passed down her spine.

Oppie wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in as tightly as he dared. "That's my job." He said quietly.

Sasha nodded. "I know, but still thank you." She frowned as she looked down and noticed his burns as he held her. "What about your injuries? Do you need them taken care of?" She asked.

"No, I'm fine." He answered.

"Okay," she said. "I just thought I could return the favor for everything you have done for me so far." She shivered again. "I really couldn't have made it without you. Now. While on the run from the Empire. 66. All of it."

Oppie blinked and looked away, worried that she was talking like this. "You're my little sister, that's my job." He said dismissively again, trying to brush it away.

"I know and I'm grateful for you," Sasha said, tiredly. "You and our family." She paused. "I miss them all so much." She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt tears rise. "And I'm scared. We will see them again right?"

"Of course we will." He said, trying to keep his own composure. "This is going to end soon, they'll find us, or we'll find some way out of this, and we'll see them again soon." He hugged her a little tighter.

"Okay," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "I'm sorry. I can't keep it together any longer." She broke down. "I really am weak." She shuddered from the sobs and the fever as she buried her face into his shoulder.

"No, you're not." He said soothingly, "don't think like that. You're not weak." He said quietly, out of reflex rocking her back and forth like he had all those years ago after her nightmares of Order 66. "It's going to be okay."

Sasha didn't answer at first as she cried against him. "But I have a broken leg. I'm sick. I can't fight back right now. I really am weak and a burden and...and… and…" her voice cracked as it trailed off.

"You're not a burden. And being weak isn't about being able to fight back, it's about pressing forward. You're in a weakened state, but you're not weak Sasha. What's bringing this up?" He asked, a little confused.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I just kept thinking about my shoulder and my leg and the others and what that one hunter had said and…" She was starting to ramble now. She paused for a moment as her mind was foggy and was starting to ache. Was she becoming delirious from this infection? "I think it might be the fever," Sasha said as she felt another shiver pass through her body.

Oppie let go of her briefly, grabbing the packs and pulling both of their blankets out and tucked them around her. "It's going to be okay." He repeated as he settled back next to her, "they'll be here any second now, and they'll have bacta with them. The good stuff. And we'll be home in a day or two." He said quietly, trying to reassure her.

Sasha nodded as she relaxed under the blankets as for once these scratchy blankets actually felt good. "Okay. Okay," she said softly as she laid back. "I'm so tired… will you be okay if I end up falling asleep?" She asked him quietly.

"Yeah, I'll watch over you." He replied, equally as quiet.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I can't stay up anymore," she moaned before quietly falling asleep, the exhaustion of everything finally catching up to her.

They came to a halt when they noticed the sight of a cut net hanging from the tree tops in a large clearing. Investigating the netting closer, it appeared to have been cut clean through with a vibroblade from the looks of it. They tapped the side of their helmet and scanned the area nearby. That's when they caught sight of a dead body lying on the embankment. They recognized the body to be… Vin was his name? The eldest brother of the duo of hunters that had died two days ago. His body was already starting to decompose according to the scanners as there was nothing to preserve it in its current state. Looking down the embankment, they caught sight of the other brother who was lying still half in the water and half on the shore.

If they had caught up to the sight of where the brothers and the Jedi fought, then that meant the Trandoshan's dead form was to be the next marker they were to find. Which meant they were closer. If they had to guess, it would be sunrise or early morning at the latest by the time they would catch up with the Jedi. That made them smile mischievously. They were the last hunter left. Their prey was wounded and exhausted. And all they had to do was capture them. This was all too easy, but they couldn't get too cocky. They had faced Jedi before many, many years ago. Even in their weakest state, like losing the one they loved most, they are still a threat. That was made apparent to them personally. And even though these Jedi were not the same, they would still meet their end.

So switching to night vision mode of their helmet, they continued through the forest as night fell. Continuing to follow the Jedi's path. And would become two million credits richer before tomorrow's sun would set.

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