Sev had put up little resistance when Scorch tackled him to the ground. Instead of really fighting back he bit back a groan, froze. "Get off you di'kut." He growled.
When Scorch gave no sign of releasing his brother Vau grabbed the commando in the yellow armor and heaved him up. "give him room to breathe." He ordered.
The rest of the squad showed a little more restraint, Boss helped Sev up, then pulled him into an uncharacteristic bone-crushing hug.
The last brother in the group took Sev's arm when Boss released him and laid it around his shoulders.
"Lean on me. Let's take a few steps." Fixer said, showing marginally more restrain than Scorch and Boss.
After a few moments everyone had noticed the unnatural pallor of Sev's face, his shaking hands.
Brook fell back, walked backwards again while Vau marched ahead.
In the 360 view the HUD granted the clones Brook kept sneaking glances at the re-united squad. A little pang of something tugged at his heart.
A root tripped him, he stumbled, branches broke as he landed heavily on his side.
Sev froze.
He rushed around, dropped to one knee, deece aimed straight at Brook's back.
No one breathed, for a moment Brook closed his eyes.
"Just breathe Brook." Vau growled across the comm.
Heartbeats later Boss reached out, keeping within Sev's view he stretched out an armored hand.
"Come vod." He said. " We have some time before we can go up again and I would like a decent spot to stretch out my legs while we are waiting."
Sev heaved himself up again, was reluctant to lower his weapon, unsteady enough on his feet that he accepted Fixer's shoulder as a crutch again.
Vau sighed, just a static through the speakers. The team started to move forward again.
It was not their way back to the elevator, but Brook tried to concentrate on his job, cheeks burned with shame from his blunder.
None of them spoke, not even when Vau led them to a small cave.
A root from one of the giant trees had pulled up, forming a long arch.
The vines and earth still clung to it, formed a shoulder-high hiding spot for them.
The older mando waved Sev in first, his brothers squeezed in next to the sniper.
Brook and Vau took up the outer edges of the half circle. The spaarti removed his helmet, took a deep breath of the air.
It was moist, smelled like the wet earth in his back. The organic matter gave way a little bit when Brook leaned backwards, but it held.
Brook closed his eyes for a moment, delta had taken off their buckets, he picked up a few muttered words.
He snuck a glance over to them, Fixer ran a scanner over Sev's limbs, Fixer immediately followed up with bandages and bacta.
It seemed like they were mostly treating the younger, minor scrapes to Brook, as they were leaving the older, healed wounds alone. He understood Scorch's need to check his brother, catalog the injuries he had sustained since they were parted, got that Fixer just had to keep close to Sev, had to do something. Clones hadn't been made to be inactive.
Boss was a bit more on the side, sitting next to Brook he couldn't reach Sev, so he had seemingly settled for watching his brothers like a hawk.
Vau stretched out a leg and kicked Brook in his chin. It wasn't hurtful, at least they had no bad intentions, but still.
Brook curled up a little bit and stared into the jungle. Something made him sad, but what?
It went well for a few moments.
Then Sev swore up a storm. He wrenched his arm from Scorch's grip and rose, crouched in their shelter.
Brook was half out of it, should he grab the deece or leave it hanging from the strap at his side to keep Sev calm?
He let it be, watched how Sev's brothers talked their brother down and did not dare get closer.
So he turned his head away, trying to focus on the jungle outside, tryed to tell himself that nothing would change, that nothing would be different when they returned.
Something nudged his foot.
Brook raised his head, suddenly feeling very young again as he met the Sargent's visor.
Vau switched to the private channel.
"You didn't do too shabby for a shiny." He grunted. "Now shake that skittishness."
Brook bit his lip, insanely grateful for his visor and the limited training his brothers had given him. He worried for a moment. Vau hadn't been nice so far, but he had been mother and father to Delta team, the clones who had taught Brook more than he was possible to learn.
So he gave himself a shake, jumped over his internal shadow.
"It isn't about the shooting Sarge." He croaked out, tilting his head over to the brothers, all huddled together. Something nagged at him, Brook felt as if the feeling was lurking just at the back of his mind, he shuddered. Brook pushed the fear away, tried to lock it in a little box, just like Fixer had told him to.
His gaze wandered over to the clone in his green armor, just next to his brothers, all attention focused on Sev. Something rose up in Brook, tore at the foundations of his security, he had not felt like this in quite some time and he really didn't like the feeling.
A deep sigh sounded over the com, like static.
Vau paused before he answered.
"There is only one thing in life that is constant Brook."
The first time the old mando had used his name, Brook noted, just as Vau continued.
"The boys like you, they will need some time, but stick around and things will sort themselves out."
Brook nodded, than turned away from the invisible eyes behind the blue visor. He felt as if the Sarge was able to read his face even through the helmet.
It were the first kind words the men had said to him and although Brook felt as if he should feel better, Vau had been downright empathetic, he still found himself chewing on his lip until it stung.
'What if I don't like change?' He thought, gripped his deece more tightly.
They were chewing on some dry ration cubes, drank some water and waited.
At some point Boss had switched places with Brook, allowed him to take a bit of a shut eye.
It felt like he was intruding, right until Fixer elbowed him in the side and told him to 'shift his shebs,' otherwise he would pinch a nerve.
Than Brook felt a bit better, although Delta squad was very much focused on Sev. Fixer and Scorch grouped around him, huddling close to him even in his sleep.
Brook stretched out, was trying to find a slightly comfortable spot that didn't pinch anywhere.
Still, sleep didn't come. The best he managed was a short doze.
The jungle didn't sleep and while Brook was used to the constant moving of the woods around his new home, this was too foreign for him to truly relax.
Also, Sev kept waking up. He would relax for a moment and when they had all relaxed, he shot forward, gripping deece tightly, eyes wild.
None of them got much sleep that night, stumbled back to the elevator at the crack of dawn, more than grateful for the grunting Wookie that greeted them at the top.
Their contact led them back to the hut they had been in before.
There, Vau took pf his bucket, turned to the squad plus Brook.
"We are in for a bit of a pickle" He said. The imps know something happened down there. Now we will need a distraction to get off planet."
A.N.:
Well, sorry about the delay. The new group dynamic here needed more re-writes than I liked, but I wanted to give you something I felt was good.
A huge thank you for your continued support, all your input made this chapter so much better and more enjoyable to write.