Revised: November 12, 2014.
"Left Behind"
Chapter 5
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"Tal, dinner is ready. Do you feel up to coming to the dinner table?" Tess called. "Are you testing your helmet?"
"Uh, yeah, I'll come. Uh, no, uh..." Tal reached up with his good hand to dislodge the helmet. He brought up his injured hand for leverage, trying to work around the cast that covered almost his entire hand. He felt the weight of the helmet lifting off his head.
"Did it work?" Tess asked politely, holding the helmet in her hands.
"No," Tal shook his head, accepting the helmet from her. He put the helmet down on the bed. Tal couldn't quite read her expression, but she almost looked relieved.
"Come on, dinner," she said, brightly, helping him up. Tal probably could have made it on his own, but he didn't mind slipping his arm around Tess' waist. He was starting to understand Cooper.
Gah. Cooper. I wish I could talk to you now. Tell you that you were right. About everything.
"I'd like to propose a toast," Tess said, raising up her glass.
Tal raised up his eyebrows. He'd never done a 'toast,' but he was familiar with the custom. He raised up his glass.
"Here's to your recovery. Ten days ago, I found you on a battlefield. I'll admit I had my doubts about whether you were going to make it."
"That makes two of us," Tal agreed.
"And now, here you are, sitting at my dinner table. To you, Tal."
"The miracle was you. Pulling me off that battlefield. Thank you."
He held up his glass, and Tess clinked against it, smiling warmly at him. Tal felt a corresponding warmth spreading in his belly. He saw in his mind a flash of the dark ARCs who shot the brothers who dared leave the GAR, the vision he always had when the stories were whispered back and forth amongst the brothers. But, as he looked around the farmhouse room, he saw something else, too. He saw what Cooper had been talking about... other possibilities. Daring to hope for something more than dying for the Republic.
Tess picked up a small loaf of bread, ripping it in half with her hands and sharing it with him. Her hand brushed against his and the tingle went through his entire body. Fek. He wanted to touch her. More than anything. But, he couldn't help but feel he was was waging a war against the 'duty' that had been instilled in him since birth at Kamino.
Tess was talking. Tal tried to focus on what she was saying, but his mind was filled with conflicting thoughts. His brothers were still out there. Fighting. Cooper, Captain Rivers and the rest of Colo Squad were gone. Left behind on Agamar. But, there were still good brothers left in the 91st Recon. Sky was proof of the goodness in his brothers. He couldn't abandon them.
He ate in silence, focused on the food, his mind in turmoil. Tess helped Tal back to bed, putting her arm around his waist. She smelled off all the foods she'd been cooking, plus a scent that seemed to be uniquely Tess. It was very hard to let her go.
"Well, good night," she said, "thanks for having dinner with me." He could hear the loneliness in her voice, but something else, an affection. It wasn't just that he was better company than the defective medical droid and the eopies. She seemed to genuinely like being with him. He'd never imagined a woman could care for him. Turning away from her and retreating alone to his bed was almost as bad as leaving Coop behind on Agamar. Almost.
That night, Tal dreamed of the dark ARCs. There was entire squad of them, led by a lieutenant. He stepped outside the farmhouse, and saw an eWeb cannon in the Kaliberry orchard. The dark ARCs were systematically mowing down everything in the orchard. The cannon was splintering all of the trees, blasting the purplish fruit everywhere. Tal suddenly heard a horrible screaming. The ARCs had turned the eWeb on the herd, systematically slaughtering the eopies with perfect clone efficiency. The type of perfection the Kaminoans demanded of them at all times. The highly trained soldiers trained their weapons on the farmhouse.
"No," Tal murmured. He saw Kali step outside of the farmhouse. She was staring in horror at her orchard, and her eopies. Then, she opened her mouth. She was talking to the ARCs. What was she saying?
"Is this because he didn't go back?" she asked the dark ARCs.
The lieutenant nodded and then gave a crisp hand signal.
Tess bowed her head and spread her arms wide, eyes closed. Within seconds, both the woman and the farmhouse were shattered into pieces. The squad turned as one and marched away.
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