M/M slash in later chapters. Please don't read if this isn't your thing! This was supposed to be PWP for clicketykeys but it instead became a full and proper story in its own right. This is from Corso's POV.
I'm half sitting up when I come to, and someone's bending over me. I jerk backwards, but I'm propped up against a wall and I've got nowhere to go. The whole left side of my face is throbbing and my vision is blurry.
"Corso?" I catch a flash of concerned green eyes. Arkanesh. He crouches beside me and grasps my chin gently in his long fingers to turn my head to the side. His skin is very warm. He's peering at my cheek, prodding carefully at it with his other hand. A flash of pain shoots across the side of my face and I hiss. He drops his hands quickly and I miss the contact. "What happened?"
"Skavak," I spit. Talking hurts. I reach up and run my fingers over my cheekbone. I don't think it's broken, but it's swollen up and hurts like blazes. I feel wetness under my hand. I'm bleeding. Arkanesh is watching me closely and I wipe my fingers on my pants. He holds a hand out and helps me up. I stumble a little, still feeling dizzy, and he steadies me. Stars, he's close. He smells of grease and scorched metal and exhaust fumes, and something musky and spicy under that. I like it, and it's hard to want to move away. He doesn't step back either.
A sudden roar startles us both apart. I grope for the corner of the wall to keep upright as the hangar spins in front of my eyes. Arkanesh is moving now, running for the landing pad and yelling. The engines of his ship have fired up and Ord Mantell's relentless dust blasts over us as she lifts off the pad. I get my feet under me and make my way over to him. He's practically vibrating with anger, watching that scum take off with his ship.
He turns on me suddenly, his eyes so intense that I take a step back. He grabs my upper arms to stop me. He's strong, fingers gripping my biceps tightly through my sturdy jacket. "What happened?"
"I was in the ship, unloading. I heard shouts and blaster fire, and saw the Seps in the hangar. I thought they had broken in, but I think Skavak let them in. He was doing something at the computer while I was working." I grimace, shaking my head. "Then I called you, and he clocked me one. I can't believe I trusted him!"
Arkanesh lets go of me and scrubs both hands through his hair, leaving part of it sticking up. I want to reach out and fix it, but bite my lip hard instead. I've never met someone that affected me like this. Even the first time I had a crush on a guy hadn't been this strong. I don't even know him.
"How could you not know he was working for the Seps?" Arkanesh sighs, pacing angrily and watching the distant shape of his ship shrink away and vanish.
I shake my head. There are way more important things right now than my libido. "He's smooth, Captain. I've heard him with the girls at the cantina. Even when I knew he was flat-out lying it sounded like the truth." I rest my hands on my hips, then look down in shock. "Torchy! That scum stole my blaster." Arkanesh is looking at me strangely, and I realize a blaster must not seem too important to a guy that just lost his ship. "She's too good for him," I finish lamely, thinking of all the hours I had put into that gun. She was an antique, but she was one of the best pistols I had ever owned. I'd even had some custom parts made to replace ones that were worn out. She'd never let me down. And now some thieving Sep dirtbag had her. At least he left me my rifle, but the loss of Torchy stings.
My holo is laying on the ground near the wall where Skavak had dumped me. "He's not getting away with this," I growl angrily, stabbing in the code for Skavak's frequency. "Come on, pick up!" I yell, just before his figure swirls into view above my hand.
"Corso! My naïve friend. How's your face? You have a little something..." He twirls a finger in the air beside his cheekbone, pantomiming the blood I can feel slowly trickling down my face. I glare at him and he turns, catching sight of Arkanesh beside me. "And Captain! This tub handles like a drunken dewback, but..." He dips in an exaggerated bow. "On behalf of Ord Mantell's glorious freedom fighters, thank you for your blasters, and your ship."
Arkanesh draws a breath to respond angrily but I just shake my head wearily. "He's cut the channel. He was always good at making an exit." I tuck the comm away again and look up at the captain. His jaw is clenched and he's so angry he doesn't seem to know what to say. "Come on," I say, taking a step away and pausing to encourage him to follow. "Let's go see Viidu. Skavak and I were both working for him, and he won't be happy to know that scum was with the Seps all along. He might be able to help."
He nods curtly, unclenching his hands with an effort, and follows me out of the hangar. I lock it behind us, even though there's nothing left to steal. Skavak had even taken the one crate I'd managed to unload before he turned on us.
The road between the landing pad and the village is pitted with craters. A series of barricades sit just outside the tiny spaceport, with a handful of the local militia crouched beside them. There's fresh blood splashed on the ground, seeping slowly into the dusty road bed. A covered body lays in the shadow of one wall. I swallow hard and jerk my eyes away. I know all these boys. I don't want to ask.
Arkanesh follows my eyes and I feel his hand come to rest on my shoulder, giving me a reassuring squeeze. I nod to him and keep walking.
I pull the captain into cover behind one of the barricades. Blyes is there, jabbing a finger at his communicator and scowling. "What's up?" I ask him, crouching next to him.
He scowls, but I know it's not directed at me. I've worked with him a lot over the past few months. "Blasted Seps. Do you know what they've pulled now?" I can feel the captain tense at my back, but I doubt Blyes knows what happened in the hangar. "They've deployed snipers," he spits, waving a hand out towards the hills. "Bloody snipers. We can't counter that."
"They keeping you pinned down here?" Arkanesh asks.
Blyes flicks his eyes over the captain, noting the blaster at his hip and the scar over his eye. Arkanesh has an air about him of a man who knows what he's doing. "If only. No, they're watching the road to the Fort. We're pretty safe here, but anyone heading up that way..." He shakes his head.
"Do you guys head up to the Fort much?" Arkanesh asks, noting their mishmash of gear. It's clear these guys aren't Republic military.
"No, not much. We usually just holo them if we've got intel for them." Blyes grimaces, his face contorting with anger. "It's just... they're shooting at civs! Refugees trying to get to the Fort are getting their brains blown out by these idiots. But they won't listen to us and stay here, because here's not any safer."
Arkanesh rears back in surprise, anger hardening his features. "Let me get this straight. These sons of rontos, who pretend they're fighting for this planet's freedom, are shooting their own people? Unarmed civilians?" He scowls darkly, his hand fisting on his knee. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy killing them."
He grins, hard and feral, and I feel a matching expression on my face. "Let's do this, Captain."