Anoat sector: Celestia
2.5 APC
Returning to Hoth didn't make much sense to her, unless she was expecting the worst. Without having heard from Koril and Elena for hours, almost a whole standard day...she was beginning to.
Deilia navigated the Celestia's trip back to Hoth with Swip at her side, both having been briefly treated at a Paneau medical outpost in the Ivax Nebula. Injured in a corridor by falling debris during the attack, Swip's concussion was mild, but it was keeping him quiet, and her own cuts and bruises on her arms and legs kept her focused and refraining from saying much, either. They had left Derek, Kaydee, and the Lyrans at the base, even though none of them had been injured, but Deilia couldn't risk taking them back to their home until she knew the spicers were gone. Even then, they'd have some major repairs and reconstruction to do before it would be inhabitable again, a fact that Deilia could remedy in a few days with a crew of covert agents at her disposal. But she would have to worry about that later; tension was mounting the longer she went without knowing where her brother and sister-in-law were.
Something was taking her back to Hoth, even though she knew the Driftdance should've escaped. The blizzard that sat atop the mountain would've been a hindrance, but Koril could've handled it without question. Though she wasn't cold in the Celestia's comfortable cockpit, well bundled up in heavy snow gear, she continued to shiver, and it baffled her. The only thing she could think of was that maybe Koril was trying to tell her something. Sure, they were both Force-sensitive, but only minimally, and they had only just recently discovered it; how would he know how to communicate with her, and how was she to decipher it?
As they flew over the Lyrans' compound in clear, calm skies, Deilia carefully scanned the mountainside, looking for any sign of the Driftdance or the spicers' bombers. If there had been a firefight, any evidence would be buried deep in the snow that had piled up in the fierce blizzard. The sensors weren't picking up any ship signals, deepening her concern. Lending them another pair of eyes, Leikam stepped up behind them in the cockpit, tugging uncomfortably at the sling holding his left arm.
"What's that?" he pointed across the pristine white wasteland to a dark, rocky formation that disappeared into the snow. Checking the scanner readout, Deilia wasn't sure what to make of it, either.
"Looks like a...ravine of some kind, goes on for kilometers."
"It's deep," Swip commented, looking out the viewport. "Doesn't look like much snow gets down into it."
Deilia agreed, making the same observations. But when everything else around it was solidly packed with ice and snow, why was the gorge mostly clear?
"Maybe they went down there, taking shelter from the storm?" Leikam offered. "With such steep cliffs, I doubt much of those winds got down to the bottom."
Swip nodded. "The natural composition of the exposed rock might be interfering with our sensors. Maybe that's why we can't find them."
Hoping they were both right, she dove the Celestia down into the gorge, having to carefully navigate the large yacht through its narrow passages. With her eyes firmly glued to the walls of the canyon to avoid jutting crags, she relied on the other two to alert her to anything they saw. They slowly made their way through the tight lane, but it was just kilometers of lifeless, rocky terrain, and it seemed to continue on forever without any helpful clues in sight. Her shivering was intensifying as they went on, though, chattering her teeth, so...they were getting closer?
"There!"
Swip had spotted the ship the same time she did, but she instantly clenched her jaw as her stomach wrenched into a searing knot, seeing both of the spicers' bombers landed just beyond the mangled wreckage of the Driftdance. It was was partially buried under a broad pile of snow and ice that had fallen a great distance from the plateau above, but as she brought the Celestia to a slow landing a good distance from the others, she had a sinking feeling that they wouldn't be alone for long.
"Are you both still armed?" she asked the two as she powered down the engines but still kept them running, pulling her own blaster at her side.
"Yes, ma'am," Leikam answered, but she tugged Swip with her as she stood up, preparing to leave.
"Leikam, stay here, keep the engines warm. Let us know the minute you see any activity from either of those two ships." She palmed a comlink to Swip as she stuffed an identical one in her pocket, and pulling her hood over her head and her goggles over her eyes, she stepped to the rear hatch and lowered the Celestia's ramp.
As Leikam had suggested earlier, there wasn't much wind as they left the ship, but that didn't make the atmosphere any warmer. Gripping her blaster through her frigid glove wasn't as easy as she thought it would be, but she sharply focused on the bombers, watching them closely as she approached them with Swip at her side. She had to concentrate even harder on quelling the tremors that still shook her, and though difficult, she ignored the exposed skin on her face that burned fiercely in the extreme cold. From the outside, the spicers' bombers looked silent and dark, perhaps even empty, so were they all aboard the Driftdance?
Her questions were quickly answered as two spicers stood up from behind cover the Driftdance's wreckage gave them, rapidly firing on her and Swip. She raised her blaster from her side and strafed to the right as Swip went the opposite way, kicking up loose powder as they moved. Though the spicers had a split-second advantage over them, she and Swip both downed them with precise bolts before either of the two spicers could hit them with a spray of random fire. Holding her breath and listening closely for other movement as the sound of their blaster bolts echoed down the canyon, she flinched when the comlink in her pocket beeped. Digging it out as she kept her blaster raised, she answered it.
"Are you two okay?" came Leikam's worried voice over the small speaker. She looked over at Swip who was equally on edge, but he nodded a bit even though he kept his gaze focused on the wreckage in front of them.
"Yeah, we're fine," she answered Leikam swiftly, glancing back at the Celestia where he sat. "Keep a lock on those bombers in case they decide to leave early."
She stuffed the comlink back into her pocket as she signaled Swip to continue on into the ship with her. He stepped up beside her once more, and as they both carefully climbed into the Driftdance's crushed, dark cabin and shed their goggles and their hoods, Deilia was finding it harder to keep hope that Koril and Elena were still alive.
The ship had settled on its side, she could tell, so navigating through the wreckage was especially dangerous. Loose debris and cargo boxes shifted under her step, but at her side again, Swip was quick to grip her arm to steady her. Though thankful for the balance, she almost hadn't recovered before another spicer surprised them. Swip was quicker on the draw, though, as he pulled Deilia to the floor with him, crouching as he took out their assailant. He steadied her again as they stood together, and she released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.
But hearing movement again, she froze, looking rapidly about the main cabin though another spicer never stepped into her sight. She heard movement again toward the rear hold of the ship that was hidden, separated from them by a collapsed bulkhead. There was a narrow opening where the beam rested against the opposite wall, keeping the damaged hull from caving in further, and though she wasn't sure how much longer it would support the weight of the icy avalanche on top of it, she readied herself to go inside it. Swip looked reluctant to let her go, but he didn't stop her, and she was going in alone. With her back to the bulkhead, she took in a slow breath and tightened the grip on her blaster, tensing her muscles for a quick flash of movement...
In one fluid motion, she whirled around the bulkhead and aimed her blaster into the dark where she had heard the movement -- and she met the diffuse green outline of another blaster pointed up at her from the floor.
She could hardly breathe.
"Koril!"
Sitting against a crumpled wall with a frayed blanket draped across himself and an unconscious Elena nestled closely beside him, Koril held a noticeably shaky aim on her, and it took him a moment longer to recognize her in the dim lighting and lower his weapon. She holstered hers at her side and stepped over to him quickly, crouching down to assess them both. Before she could form any questions, though, Koril weakly tugged the blanket off himself...to reveal a newborn tightly cradled in the crook of his arm.
Speechless, Deilia could only stare at the infant's face, amazed as the little one stirred just briefly at being moved. Koril had the baby wrapped up snugly in a small blanket for warmth, and though it had to have been hours since they had crashed, the baby looked miraculously unharmed.
"She's cold," Koril managed breathlessly as he handed the girl to Deilia. Knowing they all needed to get back aboard the Celestia as soon as possible, she bundled the girl inside her coat, securing her carefully in her hold as Swip stepped up behind her, already on his comlink.
"Leikam, are there any more spicers out there?"
"None that I can see. The bombers have stayed quiet, too."
"Take Elena," Koril ordered, sounding weaker as the minutes passed. "She's...hurt..."
Recognizing the distant look in Koril's eyes, Deilia knew he didn't have much time, either. "So are you." If only she could support his weight while she also carried the infant...
Deilia watched as Swip swiftly stepped over to Elena and gently gathered her into his arms, letting her wounded head rest lightly on his shoulder. Though it would provide little insulation against the freezing air, Deilia helped him tuck the larger blanket around Elena before she returned to Koril's side, kneeling down beside him again. She didn't want to leave Koril alone, especially since they weren't sure if there were more spicers or not, but she couldn't let Swip go back unable to defend himself and Elena. Torn, she grasped Koril's hand that was still clutching his blaster, looking into his unfocused eyes.
"We'll be back. Two minutes, at the most."
He nodded weakly to accept her promise, and standing from him while still cradling the girl against her chest inside her coat, she turned and left with Swip as quickly as they could.
Though it took Swip a little extra time to carefully maneuver through the wreckage with Elena, thankfully they encountered no further resistance as they returned to the Celestia. Their walk through the numbing cold was more urgent this time, making it feel like the seconds were passing at longer intervals. Climbing back aboard, Leikam met them just inside, walking ahead of Swip to open the door to one of the bedrooms. He looked alarmed, though, thinking Deilia empty-handed as she followed Swip inside.
"The High Commander, is he--"
"He's still alive, but we have to go back for him," she answered as she threw her gloves aside and gently opened her coat, pulling the girl into her arms to Leikam's amazement. Though a bit more awake with all the movement, the girl was still quiet and serene as Deilia rocked her lightly, still hardly able to believe it herself. "Swip?"
"Unresponsive," he answered, assessing Elena as she lay unconscious on the bed. "Pulse is weak and thready. All I can see is the gash on her head, though." Looking up at Deilia with the baby at the room's entrance, he sounded confused. "How did she deliver?"
Unsure, either, Deilia shook her head, brushing her fingers against the girl's warming cheek. She loosened the blanket just slightly to uncover the infant's head above her eyes, and though it took her a moment to see it, she noticed the girl's hair was...white. It was extremely fine, but it was unmistakably pure white. Only taking another brief moment to consider why, she returned to the Edgepoints, deciding that Swip needed to go back with her to the Driftdance to rescue Koril. "Can you hold her, Leikam? I know you've got a bad shoulder, but she needs to stay warm and in this room. It's the warmest place in the ship."
Despite his reluctance, Leikam nodded and scooped the girl up into his good arm, cradling her carefully as he stepped over to sit beside Elena. Deilia zipped her coat back up as Swip joined her, leaving with her though he was obviously hesitant to, as well. They were still on the lookout for more spicers, but again, none came, and they returned to find Koril as they had left him, sitting on the floor and appearing even weaker. It looked like he was fighting for every breath, and even without the injuries he had probably sustained in the crash, it would have been difficult to survive so long in the cold, anyway. As she and Swip both knelt down beside him to lift him up, he began speaking with a distant sound to his voice.
"They...they were going to kill us..."
"I know," she answered him softly, stroking his face, "but Koril, you held them off, you protected your family, and we took care of the rest. They're gone. They can't hurt you anymore."
But it seemed like he hadn't heard a word she had said. "One...still might..."
Realizing what he meant, she looked him over, searching his body -- and found the blaster burn on his left upper back near his shoulder. He must have taken it while shielding Elena and his daughter from the spicers' attack. Though he wouldn't have felt the pain, it would have easily burned through to his lung, making obvious the reason for his labored breathing and rapidly weakening state.
"Koril!" she breathed with alarm. "Why didn't you tell me!" Frantically grabbing him under his left arm as his head rolled forward, she hoisted him up with Swip's help, pulling half his limp weight with his arm onto her shoulder as Swip did the same on his other side. She couldn't get him back on the Celestia fast enough.
Anoat Sector: Tagora Base
3.2 APC
"Are you sure he's not feeling any of this?"
"Positive. He hasn't felt pain for over two years now."
"Oh, right, that virus. I had almost forgotten about it. How fascinating!"
Deilia laughed lightly. "I didn't bring him here for you to prod at him just for fun, Nasu."
"Ah, well. Maybe some other time, then."
As Koril's thoughts slowly returned to him, he heard the conversation between Deilia and some unknown man behind him, but his other senses were slower to catch up. Over their voices, he could also hear the soft sound of his breath echoing within a breath mask that was covering his nose and mouth. He eventually felt the air being gently pumped into the mask as it lightly breezed over his skin, and gathering enough information from the rest of his body, he realized he was laying on his right side, and someone was moving their hands over the back of his left shoulder. As he struggled to open his eyes, he must have moved; standing in front of him, Deilia leaned down to his eye level and inclined her head, even tilting it to meet his gaze straight on as she brushed her fingers over his cheek.
"Easy, Koril, you're okay. We're almost done."
Behind him, the medic laughed. "'We'? I'm the one doing all the work here."
Deilia looked up at Nasu with brief annoyance before she leaned back down, staying level with Koril as he recovered.
"Deilia," he forced his rough, weak voice to work, making her smile as she nodded.
"Hey," she answered affectionately, looking relieved to see him awake. "We're on a Paneau base in the Anoat Sector. We're safe here." After considering the confused look on his face, she continued carefully. "Do you remember what happened?"
Of course, he remembered. He was the one who had nearly gotten them all killed...
No longer needing the breath mask, he pulled it off with his right hand. "Where's Elena? And the--"
"Right over there," Deilia answered quickly as she stepped to the side, allowing him to see across the room where Elena was laying on a bed with Kaydee and Swip keeping vigil beside her. At least she was still alive -- "She's fine, she's just sleeping right now. She's been at your side ever since she woke up, but we made her rest for a bit."
Relieved that she was okay but still concerned about his daughter, he looked elsewhere around the room that he could see without moving. "And the baby --"
"I have her, Koril," Sirema interrupted him calmly as she smiled serenely, stepping around to him from his other side. She was gently cradling her granddaughter in her arms as she, too, stooped down to his level, bringing the girl closer to him so he could see her. "She's alright, too...a perfect angel."
The love and pride in Sirema's voice was comforting as he looked at the newborn, marveling over her tiny features as she gave him a lazy, content yawn. He still wasn't convinced, though.
"She's...okay? You're sure?"
"Yes, Koril," Deilia answered, still standing beside him. "She's eating, she's happy, warm, healthy... Why are you so worried?"
Though he wanted to reach out to her and hold his daughter's tiny hand, he could still feel Nasu's hands working on his shoulder, so he didn't want to interrupt him again. He thought back to the moments just after the girl was born, carefully holding her in his arms and wrapping her tightly into a bundle so she wouldn't lose much body heat in the freezing wreckage...
"She was so...quiet, but she had to be so cold... I thought..."
Seeing the girl in proper lighting for the first time since her birth, he suddenly noticed her fine white hair atop her head. He quickly lost himself in a vision he had seen two years ago just after being rescued from Agamar, seeing the children Tascit's Force Ghost had shown him. The three oldest of the seven were two girls and a boy, all roughly nine to ten years old. He had recognized the one girl with fire red hair and gray eyes as Rech and Mand's daughter Cordira Natiyr, and the boy with dark brown hair and unmistakable emerald eyes as his son Derek, so the second girl with pure white hair and hazel eyes had puzzled him since, as had the four remaining younger children. But looking on his day-old daughter once more, he had to smile, content with the knowledge that he had seen her healthy and thriving years from now without any obvious problems.
"She's passed all of the standard tests," Deilia continued comfortingly, assuming she knew his train of thought, "and she wasn't injured in the crash. She is a normal, healthy, strong little girl, Koril. You delivered her perfectly, and you protected her well."
Closing his eyes as he released a long, relieved breath, he felt Nasu strap something cold over the back of his shoulder, then the medic's work stopped.
"Okay, finished," Nasu announced happily, oblivious to the conversation going on around him. "You can lay on your back now, High Commander."
Though he couldn't feel the damage the blaster bolt had done, he carefully turned himself onto his back, easing his left shoulder down onto the bed under him. He looked up at Nasu, a thin, aging Paneau, and he looked vaguely familiar, but Koril couldn't place how he knew him. As he settled on the bed, Nasu and Deilia watched him intently.
"I was able to clear most of the dead and damaged tissue," the medic reported, "and I put a bacta patch over the burn to heal it until you can sit in a bacta tank for a few hours. How's your breathing?"
Taking a few moments to breathe deeply as he hadn't been able to after the crash, he nodded, not noticing any obvious problems. "Seems to be okay."
Nasu nodded, too. "Good. You know, you're lucky she brought you here," he continued with a light tone, indicating Deilia as he grinned. "Any other medic might have been intimidated by all the broken bones you needed mended--"
"And you did a good job, Nasu, thank you," Deilia interrupted him with an edge in her voice, insisting with a stern expression that the medic leave. Nasu took the hint graciously, though, giving them all a cordial smile and brief bow as he left.
A little concerned by her curtness, Koril reached out and held Deilia's hand, hoping to calm her. "It's okay, Deilia. I knew I was in pretty bad shape."
Though she didn't answer, she nodded, her expression looking more and more tense. She even remained quiet as he began to sit up, bending at his waist so he wouldn't displace the bacta patch on his shoulder. He was more worried about his sister, though, and as he reached a comfortable sitting position, he took her hand again, searching her troubled eyes.
"Deilia?"
Still silent, she released a trembling breath, and just as she began to speak, Elena stepped up to his bedside, halting Deilia's words.
"Koril," Elena breathed with obvious relief, ignoring Deilia as she quickly left. She gently caressed his cheek with a smile, her emerald eyes sparkling with happiness as she looked him over. He was glad to see her, too, but he briefly watched Deilia as she sat alone on the opposite side of the room with her back to him. He hoped to get a chance to talk with her later before she disappeared again, but Elena commanded his present attention, carefully taking the infant from Sirema's arms into her own as she stood beside him and rocked their daughter in her arms.
"You gave us quite a scare again," Elena told him lightly, giving him a tired smile. "I told you, you shouldn't have moved around so much." Before he could argue, she leaned into him and kissed him sweetly, her appreciation well evident in her eyes. "Good thing you never listen to me. I know you didn't have that blaster on you when we took off."
He nodded after a moment, only barely able to remember rummaging through the Driftdance's wreckage for a weapon after the girl was born. Somehow he was able to crawl around on one hand and his knees, cradling his minutes-old daughter in his other arm as he searched, desperate to defend himself and his family. He had heard the spicers arriving and beginning to search the crashed ship, and he only hazily recalled the brief firefight that ensued minutes later, earning him a blaster bolt to the back. He knew he had dealt injuries to a few that had attacked them, but at least they held out until Deilia and the Edgepoints arrived. The cloudiest of his memories, he hadn't even realized that Deilia had gotten them off Hoth until she had told him just minutes ago.
Looking down at their sleeping daughter in Elena's arms, he was again amazed by her good health, but he couldn't keep from staring at the baby's white head. Between Elena's jet black hair and his own sandy brown, there seemed little room for such a stark contrast, and there didn't seem to be a connection. Had the Huxnel virus mutated his genetic contribution to the girl, as he had feared?
Still standing beside Elena, Sirema must have noticed his gaze. "It runs in the family, dear," she reassured him with a kind smile. Elena looked just as surprised as he did as they both spoke at the same time, looking to Sirema.
"It does?"
Sirema's smile only broadened. "Yes. My mother had the same white hair all her life. You only knew her in her old age, Elena, so it wasn't out of the ordinary to you, but I remember her hair being that way since I was a little girl." She laughed lightly, looking down on the baby. "Apparently it skips a few generations..."
Feeling better about it, Koril sighed tiredly, reaching a hand up to the girl's cheek to gently stroke it with his finger. "What was her name?"
Sirema's eyes glistened. "Dirani."
Meeting Elena's curious gaze, he shrugged a bit. "It is your turn."
Derek had been named for the newly discovered Rys'tihn ancestor, Jedi Master Derek Falur, that Koril and Elena had researched, and for Jedi Master Aalon Noor who had sacrificially protected Derek before he was born. Since the girl's distinguishing feature was a trait from Elena's family, he thought it only fair to leave it up to her.
Considering his offer for a moment, Elena eventually smiled and nodded, looking down at the girl still sleeping in her arms. "Dirani. Dirani...Veona Ry'stihn."
He met her gaze again and nodded, too, accepting the homage to their late close friend Veon Banarecc. The thought seemed to sadden Elena, though, and as she leaned against him with Dirani, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, lightly kissing her temple.