Forty Five

"Oh, I see," Dr Lane said as she spoke quietly to the Ukio General Hospital prosthetics and cybernetics department. She was fortunate enough to have been transferred from her usual contact in supply. She had to be careful, placing her monthly order as usual, knowing any communiqué could be traced. The risk was however worth the anxiety she experienced as she waited to be put through the hospital's switch. She simply needed to find out more about the cyberneticist she had met years earlier, albeit under vastly different circumstances.

"Who would you recommend then, regarding a new set of cybernetic legs?" She listened intently scribbling words and numbers down on her data pad with her stylus. "OK, thank you," she replied absently already thing ahead, "thank you for your help."

Marlo turned and looked at the man still suspended in the tank next to the life support equipment.

She rubbed her head disappointed. Dr Tomas Gem was killed in a crash escorting his daughter to Coruscant, who was to be signed in as the Oriian Representative.

'What a waste,' she thought as she remembered the professor and his relentless pursuit of cybernetic perfection.

She then depressed the numbers and waited for the stock control technician to answer his comm, all the time looking at the man floating aimlessly in front of her.

#

Rex went to Ordinance with Hardcase in tow.

They didn't speak at all in the elevator down to the hub of the barracks. Hardcase waited for the Captain to alight before he followed him into the laboratory specifically built to house and analyse off world munitions.

They stood in front of a long table, waiting for the trooper wearing red to bring the new weapon out. Rex sighed and looked at his chrono.

He and Hardcase had approximately three standard hours to pull apart and learn whatever the laboratory scientists had discovered about the new Separatist hardware.

Hardcase noticed Rex move his hands to his helmet and hesitate, before unlocking the seal and lifting it off his head. The trooper did the same.

He then noticed his swollen, cut lip, remembering what Jesse had said about the fight with the ARC. He averted his eyes, obvious to the Captain that he had noticed the injury.

It was uncomfortable.

"You should have a Bacta patch on that Sir," he said quietly, looking around the empty lab.

Rex began to chuckle and ran his tongue again over the lip.

"Too late now Hardcase. Here we go," he said nodding in the direction of the door as the rifle was brought in.

Hardcase looked over at the metallic piece that was set down on the table in front of them. He then looked over at Rex.

"Well, go on. You can touch it."

Hardcase smiled and removed his gauntlets and then picked up the new weapon. They spent the next hour pulling it apart and reassembling the casing before taking it into the firing range.

"It's not perfect Sir, lethal, but not perfect. Heavy. It pulls to the left so you have to compensate. The charge runs out quick, but each shot has twice that of a DC-15. It's perfect for Trandoshans, they can carry the extra weight, and it would bring a Wookiee down fast, damn fast."

Rex watched as Hardcase tousled the gun in his hands feeling the weight again before handing it over to him.

The Captain then lifted the rifle and aimed at the target and fired, feeling the weapon pull hard to the left.

"I see what you mean," he said thinking. "I'm not sure we are going to be much help to the Wookiees other than telling them to dodge to the right every time they see one raised at them."

Hardcase laughed. "I'd still put my money on the shaggy rugs. Those bowcasters could skewer three troopers on a single quarrel."

"You know they have magazines for those things? They can shoot anywhere up to twenty in a single round."

Hardcase smiled, "I'd like to see that Sir," he said.

Rex liked this one on one time with his men, he also liked watching them learn something new, always willing to share information.

There was no one up man ship in this army.

"Well, let's round up the shinies and get dirt side," he said slapping him on the back.

"Thank you Sergeant," the Captain said before handing the rifle back to the technician.

Together they left the lab and headed back up into the GAR barracks.

#

It was time to bring the soldier out of the tank and get him accustomed to his new life.

Minus his legs.

Marlo knew that there would be a time of acceptance and was hoping to have had the replacement limbs arrive before he had completely healed in the Bacta.

She had managed to procure a set, but would have to wait for them to be delivered along with the next medical supply in one lunar months time. Then she would have to rebuild the broken soldier, performing bilateral above knee amputations to establish a new graft for the cybernetic replacements.

In the meantime, she just had to avoid being caught.

She hadn't though over the logistics of keeping the man alive initially, but had spent the past ten days thinking about how this was going to, if at all, work.

The main part would be the mental state of the trooper. She had to earn his trust quickly and then keep him hidden from the warden, the prison staff and finally the inmates.

She was fortunate enough to have her own rooms, both personal and the medical facility. The warden although a brute of a man, knew he had managed to acquire a prestigious medico in Dr Lane and having her made his life easier. She was more than capable of looking after anything from broken bones to the more serious injuries the inmates would inflict upon themselves and each other.

"Ok soldier, now your real battle begins," she said as she watched the hydraulic arm lift them man out of the Bacta and move him towards the wash down area. He was suspended in a harness, and while he was being made conscious, she quickly looked at both his legs. The Bacta was miraculous, the bones had healed and the skin had regenerated nicely.

She smiled, always fascinated at how well it would repair the seemingly impossible in such a short time.

#

Echo was aware of the light.

It was always that way coming out of the Bacta.

First, the light, then the intubation equipment, followed by the wash down.

Dress, eat, sleep.

In that order.

It was the one thing he was sure of.

He couldn't focus, and the gentle swaying wasn't helping.

So he waited.

Waited for this brain to wake up and the movement to stop.

But it didn't.

He angrily opened an eye, squinting at the bright lights and took a quick sweep around the room. Looking for another brother, all he saw was the medical equipment and heard only the monotonous beeping of the machine he was still hooked up to.

The other eye opened in frustration, and he looked up at the harness. He heard the gentle beep pick up the pace, in time with his heart as it pumped hard at the realisation of his situation.

Why am I still hanging?

Then he heard her voice as the mechanical arm moved him lower to the ground.

"Just be still while I remove the breathing apparatus."

His head swung around with such force he swayed wildly for a moment, the sensation causing him to shut his eyes as his brain regained its equilibrium.

He kept them shut as he was aware of the tubes being pulled gently from his throat, and upon completion, he popped both open quickly, startling her again.

"Oh," she exclaimed, "that's twice you've done that now." She smiled and placed the tubing on a tray next to her.

Echo began the coughing ritual.

He felt conspicuous, doing it in front of a woman and tried to move his head the left to avoid coughing up Bacta on her.

He cleared his throat a few times and spat out the remaining mix of mucous and saliva before apologising.

"Excuse me Ma'am," his voice husky from the coughing.

"Here, sip this. Slowly." She warned.

He moved his hands shakily up to the offered cup, but had no strength to hold it.

She did it for him.

It tasted so good he began to gulp it down, catching in his throat and causing another coughing fit.

"I said slowly didn't I"

Dr Marlo Lane was never known for her bedside manner. That's why she was a surgeon.

She like her patients unconscious and in her complete control.

Echo regained himself and just looked at her blankly.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You're in The Citadel medical facility. You suffered a blast to the lower half of your body and unfortunately have lost both legs below the knee."

He tried frantically to look down at his legs but was unable to, the sensation of being suspended coupled with the horrific truth was too much and he began dry wrenching, the water being the first thing brought back up.

"Settle down," she sounded annoyed. "If you just relax for a minute I can get you into a chair."

Echo controlled the nausea long enough for her to push a repulsor lift chair under him and manually lower the harness bringing his naked body down into a seated position.

She moved around the front of him, aware of his eyes penetrating her face.

Just as she removed the last piece of the webbing he caught her around the throat with his right hand. It may have been weak for a soldier, but she felt the strength behind the thumb as it pressed hard into her trachea.

"I could kill you right now," he growled.

"That wouldn't be a wise thing to do," she wheezed back.

She then felt the tremble return and the power dissipate as he let go.

Marlo fell back and scrambled up against a wall, it was her time to cough as she regained her breath.

"Do that again and I'll put you to sleep like the Warden wanted," she said vehemently.

"The Warden doesn't know I'm here?" Clarity was returning to the ARC.

"No. No one does, except me and the B1," she intonated to the mechanical nurse in the background.

"I need to get a message through to the Republic."

"Good luck with that," she laughed. "All communiqués out of this place are monitored, and I'm not sure how the Warden would feel about a dead soldier calling home."

Echo took a moment to look at her, then cast an eye down at his legs, or what remained of them. He sat back heavily into the chair and looked over at her again.

"I've ordered cybernetic replacements. They should be here with next month's supply shipment. You'll walk again," she said as she lifted herself up off the floor.

"Thank you," was all he could say, then, "could I have a towel?" He was naked and beginning to shiver due to his bodies involuntary acute stress response.

"Let's get you cleaned up first," Marlo said as she slowly pushed him under the refresher. She turned the warm water on and let the man wash himself as she reached for a towel.

'What have I got myself in for,' she thought as she watched him wash off the Bacta, inspecting his stumps for the third time.

"You got a name?" she asked over her shoulder.

"CT-21-0408."

#