Last time: The family got a recap from Oppie about what happened while Kelce treated both his and Sasha's injured.

Now: They arrive to the Valor.

Chapter 2- Valor Medbay

The Shadow Runner set down on the flight deck of the Valor, its landing expedited by the air controllers and its landing spot near the entrance out to the rest of the ship and the medical bays beyond. The Valor was an older MC-80 design, not as big or new as the Defiant, and not designed from the beginning as a military vessel. The medical bays were further away, less efficiently placed than they were aboard the 19th's flagship. But that was a minor detail. The medical crews were already waiting as the ramp opened.

Kelce stood at the head of the ramp, waiting for them. The medical crew greeted Kelce with a salute which he quickly dismissed as he gestured for them to follow him aboard.

"We have two injured," Kelce informed them as they followed him up the ramp. "One just needs a basic bacta treatment. The other, we need to prep her for surgery."

The medics nodded in understanding as Kelce led them to the bunk room where Oppie and Sasha were still resting.

Kyr came in from the cockpit walkway through the lounge to where Viran and Cien were standing aside in the corridor that led back to the bunk room, watching the medics rush in to take Sasha and Oppie. Cien was standing with her hand on Viran's shoulder. Viran watched with nervous energy as the medics entered the bunk room, unsure of what to do to help.

Kelce and the medics placed the stretchers next to the respected bunks. Two of the medics were able to move Oppie over onto one of the stretchers on their own, who was unconscious thanks to one of the medications Kelce gave to help him heal. The others helped Kelce carefully move Sasha off of hers and lay her down gently on the stretcher. Kelce then grabbed the IV that was still attached to her and laid it down beside her. He then gestured to the medics to get them out. As a unit, they moved the stretchers out of the bunk room and down the ramp as quickly as possible with Kelce close on their heels.

"Come on." Kyr said, used to the procedures the medics were following. He gestured for Viran and Cien to follow as they rushed down the ramp as well, following them to the medical bay. The U-Wing with Scamp and Nova had already landed, and Kitsu and Illara were just landing beyond.

Viran, however, was focused on following Kelce and the medics as they rushed through the hangar doors and into the corridors beyond. Kelce remained beside Sasha's stretcher as they ran along. However, every now and then, he would have to call ahead to clear any traffic or road blocks in their way, but he was trying to do that and make sure his patients were okay at the same time. Viran was half tempted to yell at people to move himself as he wanted to make sure his family got to the medical wing, but he didn't have the level of authority here. Kyr did.

"Make a hole!" Kyr yelled when a maintenance crew stepped in their path, and they jumped back when they recognized the Colonel from years ago yelling at them just like he had years ago.

Kelce shot a thankful glance back at Kyr before returning his attention to the matter at hand. After a few moments, they reached the medical wing. The doors slid open to reveal the medical wing that was already prepping for their next patients. The moment those doors opened, Kelce was already barking orders left and right.

"Alright, get Oppie prepped and ready for a bacta treatment," he ordered the medics. They nodded and immediately ushered Oppie's stretcher away to the bacta chamber room. "And get surgical bay one ready." And another group of medics nodded at the order and took Sasha away to the surgical theater in question.

Viran started following the medics that were taking Sasha away, absentmindedly, as he wanted to stay by her side.

Kyr put his hand on Viran's shoulder to stop him, "we should wait out here, Vir." Kyr said quietly as he took his buy'ce off.

Viran hesitated and looked up at Kyr before looking back at Sasha as Kelce and her disappeared behind the doors to the surgical theater. He then slowly nodded, but didn't tear his eyes away from the door.

"Come on, let's go sit down." Kyr suggested, looking at the chairs that were around them in the receiving room. Kyr absently remembered other, similar, times he had been in this room when the Valor had been his posting with then-Captain Sulam. "Doc will probably be out in an hour or so to tell us all is well." He told Viran.

"Okay," Viran said distantly as he continued to look towards the surgical theater doors.

"They wouldn't let me in either." Cien said at his side. "Either with you guys or Kyr." She finished quietly. Kyr glanced at her when she said that. "Let's go sit." She said, gently pulling on his arm towards the chairs that were available in the otherwise quiet medical bay.

Viran didn't look at Cien, but he nodded again as he allowed her to pull him away. He then turned his attention towards the chairs, just for the brief moment so he could see where he was going, before looking back towards the doors as he sat down into the nearest seat.

"I have a sabacc deck in one of my pouches." Kyr mused, "if anyone wants."

"I'm okay for now," Viran said quietly as he sat there, fidgeting with the hem of his jacket.

Cien just shrugged, and Kyr settled back into the seat. All three of them were finally able to relax. After a quiet few minutes, the door opened and a man in a captain's uniform walked in. He had close shaved dark hair and dark skin.

"Hey Kyr." He said with a gracious smile, looking between the three of them. "Were we able to meet you in time?" He asked.

"Hey Jorden. Yeah, Doc's in treating them now." He said standing up to shake the man's hand. "Good to see you again, we missed you last time."

"Yeah, you guys were busy though." He said.

"This is Cien, my wife, and Viran, my little brother. This is… Captain Garret." Kyr said, gesturing to them in turn.

"Nice to meet you." He said, turning to each in turn.

Cien nodded. "Nice to meet you as well."

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you," Viran said, looking up at the Captain before glancing away to the door again.

"I'm glad we were able to come out to rendezvous with you," Captain Garret said, "we'll get guest quarters arranged. I passed Scamp and the others in the corridor, they were heading to the cantina to wait for you guys there."

Kyr nodded, "thanks Jorden."

"No problem, let me know if you guys need anything." He said as he left to return to his duties.

Viran glanced at Kyr once the Captain left. "You guys used to work together during the war?" He asked, curious.

"Yeah." Kyr said, sitting down, "just a lieutenant commander then, he was Admiral Sulam's second in command when she was still just in charge of the Valor."

"He seemed nice." Cien observed.

"Yeah, for a navy guy." Kyr said good naturedly.

Viran smirked at that before looking back to the doors again. He swallowed. "She'll be okay… right?" He asked, nervously before looking between Kyr and Cien.

"She's going to be fine, Vir." Kyr assured him, "Kelce is the best Doctor in the New Republic, and he's brought a lot of people back from worse." He said, trying to reassure him. "Plus it's Sasha. She's stubborn." He added.

"You can feel her, right?" Cien asked.

"Yeah," Viran said with a nod. "I can feel both of them again."

"She feels stronger already." Cien observed, "and she's safe, now."

Viran sighed as he nodded and leaned forward. He ran a hand through his hair. "You're right. Both of you are. I'm just worried is all. But you are right. She'll be okay," he said then looked up at them. "Especially now that the Force is with her again."

Kyr hesitated to bring it up, but he spoke up after a moment. "Now that they are safe, though, we do need to figure out who organized this whole thing." He said quietly, "maybe Kitsu and Illara might have some idea of who could or would put out a bounty like this, or have the contacts to figure out who it might be." He said.

Viran tensed at that. "I agree. I would feel better knowing that the bounty has been dealt with and that they are truly safe," he said.

Cien nodded her agreement. "After they're recovered we can track down who's responsible for this." She said gravely, "but for now we can just focus on their recovery."

"Yeah," Viran agreed before leaning back in his seat.

For the next couple hours, they sat waiting for any news from Kelce. Finally, the doctor in question came out from the surgical theater dressed in medical scrubs. He removed the gloves and mask he wore, disposing of them in the waste bin on his way out. He walked over to those that were waiting. Viran stood from his seat as Kelce approached, looking tired.

"How is she?" Viran asked, eagerly.

Kelce folded his arms across his chest as he came to a stop before them. "She'll be okay. They are wrapping up the surgery now," he answered.

"When can we see her?" Viran asked, impatiently.

"Not for a while," Kelce said with a frown. "Once she is done, we are going to move her to the ICU. Once she is settled there, then I will allow one visitor at a time as she continues to be monitored."

Tensing slightly at that, Viran asked, "how bad is it?"

Kelce took a breath before rubbing the back of his neck. "While we have dealt with the punctured lung, she's still at risk," he explained. "Because of how far the infection from her shoulder has spread, we will need to keep a close eye on her to make sure that it doesn't spread to her lung or her leg." Viran gave him a confused look. Kelce continued. "She had a clean break in her left shin that had shifted slightly and started to press into her calf muscle. If she had continued to walk on it further, her leg would be in worse shape. But other than that, we have treated the leg, shoulder wound and the rest of her injuries."

Viran fell back into his seat, stunned. Kelce came forward and knelt down before Viran as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I know it seems like a lot, but you have my word that she will be okay," Kelce said reassuringly. "She's a strong willed Jedi. I have no worry that she won't come out of this in one piece. Okay?"

Viran nodded slowly. "Yeah, thanks Kelce. For everything."

Kelce smiled at him. "Of course."

"It's been a long day, want to go to the canteen and get something to eat?" Kyr suggested to Cien and Viran.

Viran hesitated for a moment. Kelce smirked at him as he stood back up. "Go ahead. I'll give you guys a call when they are both ready for visitors," he said.

"Okay," Viran nodded as he stood up. He then looked at Kyr. "Yeah, I'm kind of hungry."

Cien and Kyr both stood. "Thank you, Kelce." Cien said as she got to her feet.

"Of course," Kelce said. "I'm going to go check on how Oppie is doing. Let the Commander and Nova know that I'll catch up with them later."

"Sure thing, Doc." Kyr said as he started leading the others from the room.

"Thanks," Kelce said, waving them off before heading to another room in the medical wing to check on Oppie.

Viran followed Kyr and Cien out of the room and into the corridors of the ship. "So where is this place?" He asked Kyr.

"Uhhh…" Kyr thought for a second. "That's a good question. Last time I was aboard we just had a mess hall, I don't know if it's the same as the canteen or not."

"Is there anyone we could ask?" Cien suggested as crew members moved along the corridors.

"No, I'm sure we can find it." Kyr insisted as he set out.

Cien rolled her eyes and pressed a button on her gauntlet. "Hey, Kitsu where's the canteen?" Kyr looked back at her with a slight glare.

"Hey Ci'ika. It replaced the mess hall, Kyr should be able to find it." Kitsu called back.

"Okay, thanks we weren't sure, be there in a second." Cien replied, before cutting off the comm line. "Was that so hard?" She asked Kyr with a slight smirk.

"I knew exactly where I was going. I have an innate sense of where snacks and food are, Cienestra." He said with a huff as he started walking to the canteen.

"Sure." She said under her breath, beside Viran.

That got a chuckle out of Viran as he watched the two of them go back and forth. "Shall we go then?" He asked.

Cien nodded as Kyr walked off, "sure."

Viran followed after him. "By the way, Cienestra? I heard Kyr call you that back on Nivon," He asked Cien curiously. "Is that a new nickname?"

Kyr glanced over his shoulder at the question but said nothing, though he was a little nervous, he didn't know if Cien was trying to keep it a secret or not.

"No." Cien answered a little more subdued. "It's my full first name before it was shortened. My full name is Cienestra Swanseae." She paused. "-Xiv, now, I suppose." She admitted.

"Oh," Viran said, bewildered. "I never knew. Which is weird, because I feel like I should have asked after all this time. It just never really occurred to me, I guess. But that's a pretty name by the way." He complimented.

"It's fine, it hardly ever comes up." She said, "Ke'vaan and Sasha are the only ones I've ever told just because it's never seemed relevant, and I've always gone by Cien, anyway."

Viran smiled at that. "Good to know," he then looked to Kyr. "And I forgot your real name is Ke'vaan." He chuckled.

"Yeah for good reason, Sport." Kyr grumbled in front of them, hanging his head slightly in annoyance.

Viran chuckled again. "Don't worry, Kyr. I'll forget it again later," he said, teasingly.

"I won't." Cien said simply. And that earned her a nasty look from Ke'vaan to meet her smirk as they continued walking down the corridor.

"When Op gets out, use his full name." Kyr suggested.

"Op's name isn't Oppie?" Cien asked, a little confused.

"No, it's Oppr'ativ," Viran answered.

"And he's even more embarrassed by it than I am." Kyr said over his shoulder.

Cien looked between the two of them, "oh, well then I will avoid using it, then." She said, very respectfully.

Viran gave her a skeptical brow as he smirked. "Why do I not believe you?" He teased her.

Cien looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. "Are you implying I am so mean as to use someone's name when I know full well it embarasses them?" She asked critically.

Viran kept that brow raised as he looked between her and Kyr and back. "You just did it," he said, gesturing to Kyr.

"Oh." Cien said, trying to hide a smirk as they approached the door to the canteen. "I guess I did, Sport. I wonder if they have parfaits at this one?" She said sweeping ahead of them through the door as Kyr was brought up short.

"You remember when she said Xiv's are mean?" He asked Viran as she hurried away to the dessert cabinet.

"You married the right one then," Viran said with a chuckle. "She fits right in."

"Too well." Kyr scoffed as he turned to go see what they had.

Viran held his smirk as he went over to inspect the food. He was hungry, really hungry as he realized that he hadn't been eating much over the last few days. And now that Sasha and Oppie were safe, his hungry stomach caught up with him. He grabbed a sandwich, a salad, and a frozen dessert treat. He then turned to face the canteen, looking for somewhere to sit.

The Valor's canteen was smaller than the Defiant's, and not as comfortably appointed. This was a smaller ship, with a leaner crew. But the same feeling of a comfortable, gargantuan lounge carried over to this one. Kitsu and Illara were off in the distance, sharing a table with Scamp and Nova and Illara was raising their hand to wave him over. They were at a table over by the windows, which showed a swirl of hyperspace outside. Viran walked over to the table and took the available seat next to Scamp.

"Hey," Viran greeted as he sat down.

"Hey, you doing okay?" Scamp asked him.

"Better, yeah," Viran said. "Thanks."

"Get any news vod?" Kitsu asked.

Viran looked down at his food and took a deep breath. "Sasha was still in surgery when we left. Kelce told us they were wrapping up and that she will be in the ICU for a while. They are worried that her infection might spread to the areas they operated on. But he assures me that she will be okay. As for Op… I don't know. Kelce went to go check on him when we left, but he was in a bacta treatment. So I'd assume he is okay," he explained before digging into his food.

"So both are okay though?" Illara asked, "that's good to know."

"Yeah, they are both okay," Viran said with a slight nod. "Or they will be. They went through a lot this past week."

"Like what exactly?" Nova asked from across the table.

"They were being hunted like animals out there," Viran started as he lowered his sandwich. "They had to fight and even kill bounty hunters in order to survive. The mere thought of everything they had to go through…" He shuddered again.

"Wonder if it was anyone we know?" Kitsu asked as she took a drink from her mug.

"If it was, no one I lament being rid of." Illara cut in.

Kyr and Cien walked up and settled into the remaining seats, Cien had a salad and her parfait, and Kyr had two sandwiches, which he started taking apart and combining into one big one.

"Oppie didn't give any names or anything," Viran continued, looking away. "The only one he actually mentioned with more information was the Mauldalorian Sasha killed." He shuddered again, but this time at how badly that was going to affect his wife.

Scamp actually froze in place at that name. Nova just stared at him, stunned.

"A Mauldalorian bounty hunter?" Illara asked, "was it a woman?"

"I think he said that it was she," Viran tried to remember.

Kitsu and Illara both glanced at each other. "Is she dead?"

"Yeah, Sasha killed her," Viran said, looking at them. "A knife to the neck apparently."

"Good." Kitsu said rather definitively.

"You knew her?" Kyr asked.

"Unfortunately, yes." Illara answered.

Scamp and Viran exchanged a glance at that. Then Scamp spoke up. "I heard about the Mauldalorians from my old friend Rex. He fought them at the end of the war. I didn't know they were still around. But is Sasha okay? She has never struck me as the killing type."

"I don't know, but she's probably really upset from it," Viran guessed.

"Oppie also mentioned a Trandoshan, an assassin droid, and two brothers." Kyr added. "Sounds like they had a really hard time." He observed quietly. "All without being able to use the Force, I'm pretty impressed."

"That is impressive," Nova commented. "Though I imagine that this isn't something to easily bounce back from. Thankfully, Kelce's looking after them and will do everything he can to help them."

"Yeah." Cien said, worried about how Sasha was going to handle all this.

Viran gave her a glance, sharing the exact same thought.

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