Eighty Nine
"Dar, Corr, give me a greave each."
"What for?" Darman stood firm and looked at his team leader.
"Just give me one ok? Kal showed me this once."
Darman stared long and hard while Corr diligently bent over and released his left shin plate and handed it over to Niner.
"But the suits compromised the minute you alter it!"
"Oh for feks sake Dar," Niner was annoyed at his incessant questioning. He knew RC-1136 wasn't handling the disruption of the unit well, but just when did Darman become so cantankerous? Niner stood and tilted his head slightly waiting for his order to be performed.
What annoyed the Omega sergeant more was that out of all the group members, Darman had the most to live for.
Niner bent down and began unclipping both his shin plates, then using the other two fashioned a breast plate of sorts.
"Here," he spoke gruffly to the woman, "put this on."
The Republic agent moved forward, aware of the glare from one commando and stood in front of Niner. He then positioned the pieces over her chest and back before he secured the makeshift armour in place with some tape from his pack, ripping lengths off the roll with his teeth.
"How does that feel?"
"Good. Thank you."
Corr stood admiring the new beskar armour and nodded approvingly while Darman just turned and shouted over his shoulder, "you coming Corr?"
Niner watched as his team went to action. Atin had already left to run up to the peak and he knew, would find a safe spot and disappear while setting up a continuous feed to the Intrepid.
The other two scurried and slid down the hill directly in front of them and began digging a shallow trench to line the dets in. It would be their job to then find a vantage spot and wait for the Krish to head up towards them before they blew the fek out of whoever dared to follow the elite group.
"What do we do?" The feminine voice questioning the sarge.
Niner was watching all this activity unfold in front of him through his marco's.
"We sit tight and wait. That's what we do. How you going up there Atin?"
"All good sarge. Intrepid are still in a dog fight with the Sep's. They know where we are."
"OK. Stay in radio comm, keep me posted on any updates."
"Copy that sarge."
"OK, that's the first line of everything we have Niner," Darman was dusting the dirt from his gauntlets.
"Good, let's dig in and grab some rest. Hopefully Intrepid will make short work of the tinnies and get to us before the Krish do."
They rested under vegetation and ate some dry ration cubes in silence. Corr was anxious, habitually staring down the sniper attachment, looking for anything that moved.
"Take it easy Corr," Niners steady voice was a welcome reassurance to the newest member of Omega; all he had to do was what his sarge said, and what his body was bred to do.
"Sarge," Atin's voice was quiet down the comm.
"Go ahead Atin."
"You have company at eleven o'clock."
Niner swung around and looked at the small movement at approximately 500 metres away.
"Copy that Atin. Dar, Corr?"
"All over it Ner'ika."
"You need me down there?"
"No Atin, you stay where you are and gently remind Intrepid that they are late picking us up."
"What you wanna do sarge?" Darman heard Niner begin the clicking with his tongue. It was the signal to each of them that things were going to get hot, fast.
"What I want Dar, is to go home, hit the refreshers and have something to eat." He was checking the charge on his decee for the fourth time in as many minutes.
What Omega didn't know was that the Krish had doubled back and were completely surrounding them, their advantage being they knew the terrain better than the commandos.
"Fek, three o'clock sarge."
"Ok, looks like it's time to punch the card gentlemen. Let's bring them in a little closer before we blow the dets. Dar, that's got your name on it. Corr, move in towards me nice and slow. Let's give these so called soldiers a warm Republic welcome. On my mark, copy?"
"Loud and clear sarge."
"Mark."
.
Echo sat and looked at the curser blinking innocently in front of him.
On, off, on, off, on...
He was sitting in the office in front of the computer mainframe in the warehouse. Echo had been given another promotion.
He was now senior production engineer for the Scillal Shipyard company. He had just returned from a meeting with the Rhodian Chief Executive and three of the board members.
"Sir, we currently have 300 staff working on these frigates. If we introduce a twenty four hour roster and employ a further 100, we could have an increase in production of approximately 26%. That is a saving, yes, saving," he stressed, "of nearly 1 million credits. Another cost saving measure would be to implement continuous flow work stations, which would increase production by a further 9% on top of that."
It was what he did best; study the data and make an analytical comparison report.
The bean counters loved him. The meeting had been a resounding success. They had agreed to everything Echo suggested, happy to hire more staff, save some money and complete the contract ahead of time.
During a war, receiving final payment paramount.
So there he sat, watching the cursor blink on, off, on, off...
.
Things had changed though. Along with the promotion came the increase in pay. Sure the extra credits were an added bonus, but with them came infamy.
Every Friday he would enjoy a few drinks at the bar located just outside the shipyards. The women were onto the men with the money and would favour themselves in various ways to the big spenders.
One night in particular, both Stoyan and Echo over indulged in Mandalorian ale, singing songs and laughing too loudly, creating unwanted attention.
"Buy a girl a drink would ya?" Her voice husky in his ear.
Stoyan moved to another table and watched as the pretty blond worked her womanly whiles on the younger version of himself. He laughed initially then watched as Echo lost all abandon, pulling the woman in tight and buying extra wine to share. He watched as the retired ARC led her out, one arm carelessly hung around her shoulders, guiding her from the establishment.
Before he knew it, Echo had walked across to the local hotel situated on the shipyards perimeter. His alcohol fueled body stumbled up the stairs, pulling her with him as she led him to the room she rented on the hour.
Then it was just the sound of heavy breathing his mind was registering, Echo's wanting body initiating everything else. Quickly she led him to the bed, and pulled his shirt over his head, taking a second to look at the honed physique hovering above her.
It was perfect.
Echo moved forward as if on covert operation, consuming her mouth with his, his hands holding her arms tight on the bed above her head.
He felt as though he was outside his body watching some other lust consumed man devouring the woman lying almost naked underneath him.
"Oh Echo, come on baby."
Words of want; only not from the woman he wanted.
The hormonal spell broken, Echo sprung up and sat back on his heels between her legs, his chest heaving uncontrollably. The look of revolt, crossed his face and she immediately knew her evening was over.
"I'm sorry," he managed to stammer out as he moved off the bed and found his shirt. Pulling out a handful of credits he placed them neatly on the side table, avoiding eye contact, ashamed in himself and nodded his head and repeated, "I'm so sorry."
.
So there he was, sitting in his office with the curser blinking on and off.
He had counted it five hundred and seventeen times.
He knew what he could do.
All his training meant he could depress a few keys and be back on Coruscant and looking through the registered IT contractors to the Republic. He knew the one in particular. With several more computer tricks he knew he could be rifling through the personnel files, searching for the name he would recite nightly.
Freya.
On, off, on, off...
Do it, don't, do it, don't... it was cajoling, goading him to continue.
If he dared.
He wanted to dare. How he wanted to look.
Of all the missions he spent working as an ARC for the Republic, this was the most difficult. He was scared. Like being left behind at the Citadel, waking up to find his legs missing, he knew there would be no turning back once he opened the rawest of wounds, the one no bacta tank could heal; his heart.
On, off, on, off...
"Hey," it was Stoyan finishing his shift, "you just gonna sit there all night or are you coming?"
Echo smiled and logged off the screen and closed the computer down for another day.
"Yeah, just let me grab my coat," he said pulling himself up out of the chair and grabbing his pack, happy that he had another day to make that decision.
.