Well, here is chapter 5 finally. Sorry for the delay, had lab reports and projects to do. College is terrible. On a postitive note, we see the appearance of a new permanent character. Enjoy, R&R.

Chapter 5

Saara Korr was just about at the end of her shift at Merdency Medical Center when one of the emergency responders received the call. Apparently, after a short space battle, an inbound shuttle had crash landed in a field nearby. Being the only nurse not needed at the hospital, she was ordered to assist any way she could, but to not expect any survivors.

Standing a few meters away from the crash, she could understand why. The shuttle, judging by what was left of it, was a Ministry-class shuttle, one outfitted with a hyperdrive and if the reports were to be believed, a concussion missile launcher. All of that was moot, though, seeing the shape it was in now.

Emergency responders were rushing around, trying to put out the flames leaping from the rear of the ship, while others tried to open the caved-in cockpit. Just as they were about to give the ship up as a lost cause, the viewport of the cockpit began to glow. With a start, the men scrambled every direction to get away from it, and just in time as the viewport exploded outward. As the smoke dissipated, a terrifying humanoid droid stepped out of the hole where the cockpit viewport used to be. In his arms was a figure covered from head to toe in blue armor.

Saara cautiously approached the droid, knowing that the figure he carried was most likely dead or dying. As she approached, the droid turned his box-like head towards her, his blue photoreceptors glowing brightly.

"Threatening statement: do not approach any closer, organic. I am a fully armed and operational combat droid programmed to defend this individual. Any attempts at harming him will be met with maximum prejudice. "

We're not here to harm him, droid," Saara said nervously, not wanting to anger the combat droid. "We're here to offer help if he needs it. And by the looks of it, he needs immediate medical attention. Surely your programming instructs you to allow for him to receive such treatment when necessary."

The droid paused, seeming to think for a second, then nodded in agreement. He laid the figure on the ground, motioning her forward, then drawing a blaster rifle that was slung across his back.

"Threatening statement: If you harm him, organic, I will make sure that you don't enjoy the last moments of your existence." That being said, he stepped back to give her room to work.

The first thing Saara noticed was the gash in his helmet; a diagonal slash, running from the top all the way to his jaw line. Saara was immediately worried about a concussion from such a blow, so proceeded to remove his helmet.

With a hiss, the helmet popped off, revealing a young man roughly in his twenties had dark brown hair, a tan complexion, and a slash in his skin following the same path as the one in his helmet. Shining a light in his eyes, Saara judged that the young man had a concussion. Removing a packet from a case one of the responders placed beside her, she applied a kolto strip to the wound. Turning to the medics who were accompanying her, she said, "He's got a concussion, we're going to have to get him to the medical center as soon as we can. I don't know just how bad it is, so be careful about moving him."

HK made some gurgling noise Saara took to be a sign of his presence, so she added, "The droid will go with you."

The first thing Nasheth noticed as he came out of the restless black fog named unconsciousness, filled with bright, sudden flashes and panicked feelings, was the lack of noise. Wherever he was at was completely and totally silent. The second thing he realized was that he no longer encased in his armor. He shifted ever so slightly to check to see if his holdout blaster was still in its shoulder holster, only to find that it too was gone. For all appearances, he was unarmed, or as unarmed as a Mandalorian could be considered. That thought was one of the worst any Mandalorian could conceive, especially after recalling his strikingly ungraceful landing.

Deciding he couldn't lie in one spot awaiting whatever fate had brought him, Nasheth slowly opened his eyes and tried to lean forward. With a groan, he laid back down, closed his eyes, and concluded he wasn't going anywhere at that moment in time. Once the throbbing in his skull had subsided to a dull, pulsating ache, a feminine presence made itself known with a soft, commanding voice.

"Don't try to sit up so suddenly," the voice said. "You've been out for two days; your body needs time to get reacquainted with movement."

Startled by the voice, Nasheth turned towards the source of the voice and cracked his eyes. He found a fair-complected young lady of roughly twenty five years of age with sandy brown hair. She tall, or seemed so to him, but then again, he was laying down on a bed whereas she was standing.

"Any particular reason my armor is gone? Or more importantly, where are my weapons?"

"Relax, you sustained some rather nasty wounds, so I was forced to remove your armor. As for your weapons, they are with your droid."

"And where is he?" Nasheth grumbled, still not comfortable with being disarmed and exposed.

"He's out in the corridor. Would you like to see him?"

"Yea, send him in," Nasheth responded. "Then give us a moment."

"All right. By the way, my name's Saara, I'll be the one tending to you during your stay here."

Nasheth could hear her talking with someone outside in the corridor, followed be the familiar whirring of servo-motors announcing HK's entrance into the room.

"Greetings: it is a pleasure to see you alive master!"

"It's good to see you too HK. Or, you know, at least hear you. How bad was the wreck and where are we for that matter?"

"Hesitant answer: the ship is, to put it nicely, non operational. We lost the extra grenades you packed as well as our out of system comm. We are currently in Merdency Medical Center. We did manage to make it to Aradian after all, though I believe it was due to my superior piloting skills."

"Yea, right, and my idea with the missile had nothing to do with it," Nasheth chuckled.

"It's good the damage you sustained didn't affect your memory, master. I would hate for you to suffer as I do. It is not a fate I would wish on even organics."

"HK, your master needs to rest. You can come back in a bit. I'll even let you remain at your guard position outside his door," Saara said as she came back in.

"Ma'am, with all do respect, I'd rather have HK with me. The people who shot us down may want to see if there were any survivors." Nasheth had a feeling that those pirates weren't just there to use his shuttle for target practice.

"Your HK unit has already explained the situation to me. Yours isn't the first ship Zarrev Hurmond's gang has shot down in the system. Nor are you to be the first Mandalorian he's tried to kill recently. I'll explain more once you get some sleep." With that, she apparently exited the room.

"Master, I will be outside if you need me. Do you want your blasters back?"

"Yea, leave me the holdout. I would really like my armor back though."

"Nervous statement: master, your armor was damaged in the crash. It is unclear if you will be able to use it again."

Nasheth sighed. This was turning out to be a very bad trip after all. Something bothered him about the battle earlier. The pirate shouldn't have known they would be in the sector. It was possible that they had just come across the shuttle by accident or that they were simply waiting for any ships coming out of hyperspace. But Saara had said that he wasn't the first Mandalorian that Zarrev had shot down recently.

It doesn't matter right now, Nasheth thought. No one's going to be looking for me here and I can worry about all this later.

And with that, he promptly fell back asleep.