Kyrimorut.
Evening.
A'den scrubbed at the large pan before rinsing it off and putting it to dry. A hand touched his before it had reached the draining board.
"It's okay, I can finish them." he insisted, pulling his hand away.
"No I want to help." Jilka replied as she intercepted the next wet pan and took it from him. Corr standing next to her took the dried items and put them away. A'den saw the ex-commando's eyes, flick between the two of them. If he thought he was after Jilka, he was way off; he just preferred to be alone with his thoughts and she was interrupting. This task required little consideration, so he could think about other things whilst doing it.
In the background, he heard Besany talking with Ordo about Kina Ha and Laseema and Atin playing with Kad in front of the fire, trying to tire him out, ready for bed.
"Finished." He declared, rinsing the sink, tidying it before drying his hands. He walked over to Kad ruffled his hair, getting a giggle before going outside.
"I don't think he likes me." Jilka whispered to Corr, as they finished putting the items away. A frown crossed the Ex-commando's face.
"It doesn't matter. He's pre occupied." His arm went around her waist, "fancy a walk?"
"Hmm." They too left the house.
A'den sat on the bench Dev, one of Rav's boys, had fashioned out of some old tree branches; it was more comfortable than the simple tree trunk that had been there before and A'den was surprised. None of them had actually worked with wood before, not unless they were blowing it into matchsticks.
Although happy for his brothers, with their wives and partners, and his Father who had finally admitted he loved Ny, he still missed Ryssa. Occasionally it was all too much seeing them, reminding him of his loss and he could feel his restraint leaving him. He didn't want the questions. The sympathy. Just the silence.
He looked up, the night was clear, cold, and he could see the stars.
Ryssa would have loved this place, this time, this season, the space here. She always loved the parks on Coruscant, open air and night sky. He had wanted to show her around here. He knew it was not everyone's ideal but there was a rugged beauty to the place. Forests to explore, mountains to climb. There had been no recent sightings of her, no holo image since Ryloth, no Com chatter, nothing since Cid and Maz. He had to reluctantly accept the possibility that she was gone. No one could disappear so completely, not from them. Eventually the rage that had bubbled up and was rolling around his mind stilled. He returned to the house.
A'den stood looking at it; It was hanging just as he left it, when he was so sure she was coming back. Now he was not so sure. The shimmer-silk wrap, lilac with a large fantastical bird hand printed on the back. It was wildly expensive and an indulgence but he knew she would have appreciated it. He carefully took it down and folded it, putting it in the drawer, unworn, with the rest of the clothes he had ready for her. He could give it to one of the other ladies, if they wanted it, not wanting to waste it but he couldn't bare to look at it, not at the moment.
"You okay, vod? You seemed distracted at dinner?" Jaing poked his head around the door.
"The usual."
Jaing hummed in sympathy, watching his brother.
"We've just had word from Gaib & TK-0 Inc. more Intel and we can pick up some of the latest equipment the Empire's been using. Cid has sent something. From someone who escaped Daro."
"What?" A'den's head nearly flew off his shoulders, he whipped it around so fast.
"Get some sleep. We're briefing tomorrow after breakfast." Jaing slapped his brother on the back before he left. He hoped this would take them somewhere, give his brother some sort of peace. They all deserved it.
A'den opened the drawer and replaced the wrap on the hanger. His optimism was back but there was no way he was going to be able to sleep.
.
Mandalore.
Mountain Regions
Northern Territory.
Coric pushed aside the damaged panels and gently lifted her out. It had been a turbulent landing with the ATC tracking, before he lost them. Still unconscious, he checked her: pulse steady, eyes fine— she had crashed. He left her propped against a tree, while he returned to the ship to retrieve what he could.
"Fekking droid," he muttered, pulling it out. It was still closed down; it was easier to move than he thought, together with her medical bag and his snipers kit. There was nothing else they could use. It would take their pursuers a while to find the wreck and determine if anyone survived but if there were no bodies, that would be difficult. The hyperdrive was intact with its fuel.
"Hmm. It's a possibility."
It had seemed a good idea at the time to give her the stim shot but when she was hit shortly afterwards, it hadn't registered with her and she deteriorated quickly, her lips now blue. Her uniform wouldn't keep her warm and if they didn't find some shelter soon they would freeze. Looking ahead, the forest closed in and large fluffy snow flakes floated down; he climbed to the top of the incline caused by the crash and brought his scopes down. Scanning, it looked like a wilderness but there was an anomaly on the mountainside; turning up the magnification he saw clearly now. A building!
He skidded back down the side of the incline in his haste.
"Ryssa, get up." He cajoled."Don't sleep now, we need to move, get warm." She roused dragging herself upright, wobbling precariously in the process.
"I can't." she said, in a voice so faint he nearly missed it.
"Yes, you can. There's no such word as fekking can't." He pulled her arm around his shoulder propping her against him, determined not to lose her.
"How's the wound?" He enquired softly.
"Hghh." She grunted.
Good she was still with him.
He examined her side, blood oozed from the wound; he pressed his hand against it. She hissed in pain. It needed closing up, pressure on it wouldn't help for long, and neither could keep continuous pressure on it. They needed a sled because he would have to carry her somehow and that was his best option. Setting her down, he slithered back down to the crashed shuttle and pulled a damaged durasteel panel away.
"C'mon get on." She didn't move, so he slid her on, covered her with the thin blanket pulled from the med kit and attached his rappelling line as a rudimentary harness, slipping it over his shoulders. He strained, testing it, confirming he could pull it. The droid would have to wait. He had pushed it into the undergrowth and covered it with plant material. It was either that or blast it but after Ryssa desperately wanted to keep it, he couldn't do that to her. He'd come back later for it. He just hoped he had pulled it far enough away.
A couple of minutes, and several hundred metres later, he fired into the hyperdrive fuel. His bucket reacted to the blast, so it didn't blind him but Ryssa didn't even comment.
He scanned the distance again, his bucket was still working but he had to conserve its power. The building looked deserted, it was difficult to tell from this distance but they had to get shelter; the snow was falling heavily, so it was their only hope. He pulled.
They made their way, in this fashion, towards the shelter he had seen in the distance. After a few metres he could see they were now leaving a trail and periodically he stopped to cover their tracks. He never thought that he would be wishing it to snow harder. An hour later and it seemed no closer. He checked Ryssa, she was slipping in and out of consciousness; her eyes flickered and her hand went out towards him.
"It's not looking good is it?" She asked softly.
He couldn't lie to her. "No, you need to keep warm and we need to stop the bleeding."
I just found you, I can't lose you.
Her breathing was shallow."It's quite peaceful to die from the cold, I understand, just becoming numb and drifting off to oblivion and then my heart will stop." She grabbed at his hand. "I won't be in any pain. You helped your brothers…..."
"No! That won't happen." Angry she would ask him to consider it. His eyes lit on a suitable rock and set his blaster to its lowest setting and fired for about 10 seconds.
Kriff! It worked. It heated it up. It was a gamble.
He touched it, hot but not burning; he placed it next to her, heating several to keep her warm then he pulled, and pulled. Once he got a momentum going it wasn't too bad as she wasn't that heavy, luckily the snow was coming down heavier now and it covered their tracks.
After hours of pulling they reached the building; the rocks had long since lost their heat and he pushed them off. The continued effort to pull and keep going meant, he hadn't been able to check on her and she had stopped talking a while back, even though he had tried to keep her awake.
He shouldered the door open it wasn't broken and could be blockaded shut to keep out the worst of the cold; it appeared to be some kind of hunting lodge, set deep into the mountainside. He pulled her inside, laying her on a huge animal fur in front of an old fashioned open fire grate.
"Fek! Now I need wood or something to burn." He headed back out, blasted some branches, bringing them back to set alight. He fired his baster to ignite them, although it seemed to take forever before burned properly and gave out heat. He thanked Rex and Cody for the survival training they had given him and his ARC training.
He checked her again, she felt cold but was breathing easily and had a steady pulse. He frantically looked for any cupboards that contained blankets, ripping them open at random and pulling anything out. The lodge didn't look lived in but had obviously been used regularly in the past. Finally he found some and, after removing her now wet outer clothes, he piled blankets on top of her. The temperature in the lodge was higher than outside, so she should regain her core temperature. He hoped. He found one of his ration packs and a rehydration sachet but it needed warming up. Another frantic search of the cooking area revealed some basic cooking utensils, including a metal pan. He put some fresh snow in it, one of his water treatment tablets and heated the pan with his blaster till it was boiling. He needed to find a proper clean supply of water, food and fuel.
"Kriff, now it's got to cool." He muttered to himself, slowing down to take stock of what he needed to do next. The fire was starting to give off reasonable warmth and then he set about getting her to drink the rehydration fluid.
He carefully held her head up and tried to wake her. Her eyes flickered.
"Come on. I'm not losing you now. I've worked too damn hard to get you this far." He muttered more to himself than her. " Drink this!" He ordered. Her eyes flickered open again and he dribbled some of the fluid into her mouth. She coughed but swallowed some; he repeated it and she swallowed again. Again and again, he did this, with accompanied cursing, until the fluid was gone.
He sat back on his haunches, pleased with the progress they had made. She felt warmer and her lips had gone back to their normal colour, rather than the blue they had previously.
"Osik! The smoke from the fire."
He jumped up and ran outside looking for some kind of chimney or smoke, that would give their position away.
There was none.
He checked again using his HUD to magnify.
"Nothing." he whispered.
Odd but lucky, he'd worry about that later. Now he had to make the door secure and weatherproof, go back for the droid and think up a plan, not just react. You always needed a plan, Captain Rex said, and then a plan B, when Plan A went to haran.
He secured the door, they were weatherproof, would be reasonably warm and safe from predators. He'd heard a few stories about the animals that roamed Mandalore.
Next on the list - food. His stomach was growling so much, he was afraid someone would hear it, he was damn hungry. He stuffed a ration bar down with some warm water and began to investigate their accommodation.
.
Kyrimorut
A'den's meal grain porridge barely hit the sides of his mouth and throat, as it went down, as did the two cafs he practically inhaled. He was ready for the briefing. See exactly what they had.
He waited in the makeshift ops room, Kal automatically went to the head of the table, squeezing his shoulder, as he walked by. Everyone had a mug of caf in their hands; Jaing handed him another one and winked.
"Three sweeteners in that one, ner vod."
Ordo took over. "This is what we have so far." He scrolled down his datapad by habit, although his memory held all the information they needed.
"Daro, outer rim planet. No known settlements. Recent Intel shows it's housing an Imperial training facility for stormtroopers." He paused, "Up to recently the Empire's Stormtroopers had all been clones but now the Empire is recruiting mongrels. The trainers are our own brothers." There were a few murmurs in the room. He didn't say 'Vod' as he knew some would not have been Mandalorian trained, and would not think that way.
"We have a brother who escaped from there. With help of Clone Force 99."
"Nala Se's little pet project." This was Vau.
"Did you know about them?"
"Found out just before Geonosis. Jango wasn't very happy about it. Said she'd gone too far. Meddled with his DNA too much and was experimenting on them. They weren't soldiers. He was having words with her. The contract was to supply his DNA for an army not for her pleasure and then Geonosis."
"Apparently they're good." A'den said.
"All of them?" Vau asked.
He shrugged in reply.
"We also have to consider the inhibitor chips." Kal put in.
"Gregor gave us details of the Garrison and some codes but they're probably changed after his escape. He also thinks Ryssa was doing something with the chips." Ordo continued.
A'den glanced at Corr standing at the back. The unspoken thoughts of everyone was Corr had been a trooper and he would have a chip. Mij stepped forward.
"I'll need to check you over, lad."
Corr nodded, a blush highlighting his cheeks, as he rubbed the side of his head.
"Gregor says his was damaged in an explosion, so they're not infallible. Captain Rex escaped the Seige and helped Clone Force 99 remove theirs." Ordo continued.
"Is that what she was doing?" Asked A'den, "removing their inhibitor chips."
"Gregor says she had some sort of scanner that she used on him. He thought that was to do with the chip. But Rex took it out to be sure."
"It's something she would do."
"She had a droid with her as well. Some protection model. A one off."
"She's never had a droid before. Didn't like them. Was it Imperial?" A'den was intrigued.
"Unknown."
"We could get Gaib and Teekay-O Inc to take a look at it. They may have some details." Jaing made a suggestion.
"Time I called Gaib and Teekay-O." Mereel said. "Like to keep them busy." He headed to the back of the room.
The rest studied the holo of Daro, what was known of it.
"Gaib and Teekay-O are meeting us. They've got more stuff for us. We'll pick it up along with the intel."
"We're putting a lot of trust in those two." Commented Vau, "considering they also work for the Empire."
"And we're paying them well." Replied Mereel. "They have as much to lose as us."
"Do they? The Empire's paying them just as well." Vau countered.
"Then we'll just have to keep closer tabs on them." A'den was getting impatient. "Where's the meet?" He looked at Mereel.
"Ord Mantell. Two days."
"Oya!" Several of the boys chorused.
Hunting Lodge.
Ryssa felt warm, stiflingly warm, so much so that she struggled to escape from the material enclosing her. She couldn't breath, her chest was constricted. It was dark and she couldn't see; she finally pulled the heavy weight of the blankets off her and breathed again.
"Kriff, it's cold."
She also realised, she was naked.
"Hi," a Clone voice came out of the darkness.
"Coric?" She was beginning to remember snippets, flashes of what happened, the escape in the freighter. The crash. The cold. "My clothes?"
"You were wet and hyperthermic, you needed warming up."
"Thanks, I think I could do with some now though." She tried to sit up but the shooting pain in her side effectively stopped her; her hand investigated what was causing it and she could feel a Bacta patch in place.
Aah. The blaster wound.
"You need to stay there and I'll get you some ration pack soup." The order came through loud and clear, so she lay back, exhausted just by this tiny effort.
"EmDee?" She pushed her head up.
"I had to leave him at the crash site. Should be okay. I'll go get him later."
Coric had been busy searching through the lodge and he found some old clothes in one of the cupboards, a top and some men's trousers; they would be big but would suffice for the time being. He took them to her in the bedroom. She had eaten half of the soup.
"You need to eat the rest, get your strength back." She smiled wanly at him. "Ok, I'll try."
A couple of more mouthfuls went down and then she stopped again and swallowed again. "Sorry, I can't eat any more."
He pushed a tumbler of warm water to her and she drank from it before an overwhelming lethargy hit her, her eyes drooped again and she succumbed to it, willingly.
.
It was another fifteen hours before she woke up again, and stayed awake, although Coric insisted she had been up, eaten and drunk, and been to the fresher. She could not remember any of it but she was dressed sort of. She tried sitting up but the pain in her side was too much until he helped her and she made herself comfortable.
"So where are we?"
"Somewhere to the north of Keldabe."
"North?" She asked.
"We didn't have much choice."
"I know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"
"It could have gone better." He admitted.
"Not your fault."
Coric looked at her not accepting the forgiveness, she was giving him.
"EmDee?"
"I had to hide him near the crash site. I'll…"
"Its okay. I just needed ….I don't know. There's only been the two of us for a while."
"Well, I'm here now."
"Yes. And if it hadn't been for you, I'd be in some Imperial prison or labour camp or even dead." She reached out for his hand, he moved it away.
"I'll get you some more water and see what else I can find ration wise." He announced and left her with lots of questions and things she wanted to say.