Kyrimorut.
Ryssa stared into space, keeping the image of her husband standing opposite her, in her mind's eye; having decided not to tell him about the pregnancy, now she wondered if she had done right. Whilst she had not agreed with Kal, what he did to Etain and Darman, this was her decision not to tell Den yet. He looked worried, probably about Kashyyyk, she told herself and Kashyyk was a dangerous planet even without the Imperial presence. She really shouldn't have said anything about L'leth either, he was obviously worried about her now.
It would be better done in person, when he was safe, back here, with her.
Preoccupied, she wandered through to the Ops room; Prudii and Kom'rk sat engrossed in their tasks of sifting through the mounds of information they were accumulating through Jaing's little projects he had going on throughout the Empire.
Kom'rk finally acknowledged her.
"Su'cuy gar, vod'ika! Sit down! Join us! How are you?"
His greeting interrupted her thoughts and she couldn't help but smile at him, both of them, they were in their element in this data crunching environment.
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Are you sure? You look pale." Kom'rk studied her closely; of all the Nulls, he reminded her most of A'den in his mannerisms. He was closest to him.
"I'm fine, just tired."
Dog tired, she thought. Usual for the first trimester.
Kom'rk looked at her disbelieving.
"Sit down then! Our brother won't forgive us if we're not looking after you when he's not here."
He pulled out a chair, which she ignored, instead she looked around, and there in the corner of the room, powered down was her droid. She sadly remembered what they went through together with the Empire and that one of the few friends she had during that time, was sitting, looking like nothing more than an empty shell. He had been with her as a child, those resurfaced memories seemed even more clear now.
"That Shab'la thing was driving Jaing mad!" Cursed Prudii, throwing a tiny screwdriver at it. Hitting it between its photoreceptors."
"Hey! Leave him alone." She told him off, suddenly protective of the droid—EmDee.
Prudii raised his hands, and grinned, "Sorry."
"Apology accepted, on his behalf, EmDee's behalf." She said, as she rose, to go retrieve the screwdriver. "Do you know what else he had done to him?"
She remembered touching EmDee to see if he reactivated but she had no luck. After regaining her memories, it was more important that he be reactivated, as he could provide crucial Intel on the Empire and the clones still with them. She remembered how much he did and that he performed some of the medical treatments on the Commandos serving with the Empire at Daro. EmDee would be able to identify them; he would have scanned their ID's. All that would be held in his database, if it was still intact. She grabbed the equivalent of his forearms to pull him up but she misjudged his weight, struggling to even move him.
"Let me help." Kom'rk came forward, "Where and how do you want him?"
"EmDee. He likes to be called EmDee."
"Okay." He shot a quick glance at Prudii, "where do you want EmDee?"
"Over there. Upright and so I can reach all around him."
Kom'rk lifted the droid easily and placed him as requested.
"Jaing has had him in pieces more than once and tried everything but that droid is definitely finally, totally deceased."
"Hope he's put him back together correctly." Ryssa walked around it, checking it visually. "Because he was deceased once before and he's important. His memory will have details of troopers, Commandos everyone we treated on Daro, and before on Ryloth."
"Vode?" Queried Kom'rk.
Ryssa nodded, "I still can't remember all the details and exactly who but I there was a Commando called Gregor and a Captain Howzer on Ryloth. They were not with the Empire. Some of my memories are still a little jumbled."
"I thought you said you were fine?" Muttered Prudii, "That doesn't sound fine. Should you even be here, doing this?"
"I can't sit in a chair all day doing nothing."
"Yes you can." Prudii replied.
Ryssa rolled her eyes, "This will help me remember."
"Ever the optimist!" Commented Prudii, "I don't know how you put up with our vod!"
"Hmm. No comment!"
"And what does that mean?"
"It means, stay out of my love life."
Kom'rk sighed, exaggeratedly.
"I had a love life once but no longer. Now it's just second hand."
"Or your hand." Muttered Prudii, who received a none too gentle shove on the shoulder from his brother telling him to watch his language in front of his sister in law.
Ryssa ignored them, concentrating on EmDee, walking around it, checking it over, touching as many parts of it as she could, when the door opened.
"Ah! Here you are!"
"Tann! How is L'leth?" Ryssa automatically rushed to her side, on hearing her voice.
"She still has a long way to go but I'm hopeful. We're keeping her unconscious while we do more tests. Get a baseline. Then a treatment plan. She has lots of people here to help her."
Tann grasped Ryssa's hand and gave her a questioning look. Ryssa shook her head.
"Vod'ika? Interrupted Kom'rk, smiling. "We haven't been introduced!"
It was his most disarming smile; all the clones had it, sort of lopsided but not. He turned his full attention to Tann. She looked at him with a smile on her face.
.
Kashyyyk
Sev heard the whump come from the far corner of the landing field and watched as the Imperial troopers turned around and sprinted towards the now billowing smoke.
Yllia had done good, for a scrawny looking female, that looked as if one good gust of wind would knock her over.
He launched himself and raced towards his chosen ship, sliding underneath the nearest one and crawling under the rest to get to the one he had chosen.
He tentatively tried the door, it opened. He tutted— sloppy, he thought and then slipped inside.
Surprised, he found the pilot still sitting in the seat, helmet on. It turned around, raising a blaster; Sev reacted, leaning over, he grasped the shoulders and head and twisted until he heard the telltale crack. The blaster clattered to the floor. He pulled the body from the seat; it was fairly light. Pilots didn't need to be muscular, then levered himself into the pilot's seat and tried to get comfortable in it.
"Kriff!" He muttered as his shebs were squashed together in the small seat. It was not built for comfort. There was no chance of him, or anyone his size falling asleep at the controls and other than the controls, there was not much else in the cockpit, it was little more than a flying ball.
"The Empire us just the same as the Republic. Don't value their soldiers."
He was no pilot but it felt odd, perhaps it was just his size, even though he was sure he had lost some bulk since he came to Kashyyyk. He thumped his helmet, it was still on the fritz. Finally his cam opened up and he started recording all the instruments, working in a logical pattern from left to right.
"Shab! If I had a splicing tool I could get into the panel; if Fixer was here….."
He stopped talking and whipped around, his blaster out, when he felt rather than heard someone behind him.
"If Fixer was here I'd have crept up on the two of you. You've been busy, ner vod."
Sev was facing a blaster held by a Mandalorian, in full armour, speaking in a distinctive clone voice, if a little gravelly. The only ones who could creep up on him successfully were the Nulls.
"How are you, ner vod? Long time no see!" He insisted on being amenable. It couldn't last for long.
"Fekking di'kut! Which one are you? Prudii?"
"I'm offended." And he sounded it.
"Jaing?"
"Pfft! What have we got then?" The Null said, climbing up next to him.
"Prototype. They're testing them."
"I'll put you out of part of your misery. It's A'den. And yes we felt their backlash earlier. We were up in the trees."
"We?"
"We came to get you. You've been proving difficult to find."
"Good." Sev took pride in that.
The null started recording the cockpit.
"Who's we?" Sev pushed, deciding he was interested.
"Me and Sergeant Vau. He's just taking care of your companion. Scrappy little thing ain't she."
"We can't all snag Coruscanti princesses." Grumbled Sev
"She's a doctor. And I should hope not." There was an element of warning in the Null's voice, when his partner, wife or whatever she was now, was mentioned. Sev noted that for later.
"Are you getting all this? My helmet's shot." Explained Sev; he had limited recording ability and had to restrict it.
"Yeah." replied A'den as he pulled out a splicing tool from his belt. "Let's have a good look inside." He jammed it into the port and started downloading the intel then tilted his head.
"The troopers are coming back. I need a ….little…..longer….." he said willing the upload to go faster.
"It's time to depart." A'den heard Vau's voice, a little strained, in his com.
"That's it!" He declared, "All done."
He removed the tool. "Time to go."
He leaned around to face Sev's rear as he lowered his head through the hatch. Then he heard him.
"Oh no the dik'ut are going to…."
The tie they were next to erupted in a yellow and red ball, the force throwing them rolling over and over then all hell broke loose.
Vau watched from the edge, hanging on to the skinny little thing that had attached herself to Sev or vice versa. He could not be entirely sure, from what she had said but he was more interested in what the Wookiees were doing now, until he heard the explosion.
He flicked up his viewfinder for a better look; several of the ties had exploded with wreckage flying everywhere. The skinny thing he was holding onto was fighting to get away.
"Stay here. You can't help him, if there's parts of you strewn across the landing field." It was a guess but appeared accurate as she stopped struggling and turned to look at him.
"What can I do to help?"
"A'den?" He asked in his com and waited for a reply.
Static.
"A'den. Come in."
More static.
"Stay here, cover me!" He ran across the landing area. The stealth part had gone to Haran anyway and it looked like the Stormtroopers had their hands full, or possibly the Wookiees had their hands full as various body parts encased in white armour flew past him. He'd heard the stories about that but never actually seen it.
He slid under an undamaged tie and tried to get his bearings as the smoke cleared.
"Fierfek! I'm getting too old for this!"
He crawled on his stomach to the tie. It was a mess. They would have been rolled around in there, with no restraints and there was only room for one. He frantically looked for Sev but found the Null instead. He turned him over and pulled off his helmet. He was alive. Well that saved one awkward possibly violent explanation to Kal. Looked like parts of his flight suit had been shredded by shrapnel but they should not have gone deep.
He was coming round.
"Stay still! I'll find Sev. We've only got a few minutes."
Vau crawled further under, avoiding the molten drops of metal and various noxious substances; he hadn't come this far to fail at the last hurdle.
He blinked to turn on his scanners in his HUD and scanned the surrounding area. Finally finding a heat signature that vaguely matched a humanoid. He crawled towards it. He hadn't raised these boy soldiers to die like this and he had others to find.
Finally he saw the bloodied hand poking out from underneath a piece of sheet metal. He crawled towards it, recognising it as Sev's hand from the scars on it. He'd patched him up enough times.
Vau pulled at the sheet of metal dragging it away, as fast as he could. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another hand help him.
"Quicker this way." Grunted A'den.
Vau had no words, the lad had helped him every step of the way. Or rather he helped his wife's father. He had no illusions. He expected that was the reason behind it.
Eventually they reached him but it didn't look good; he had even more shrapnel but some of it had embedded in the armour. There was a nasty piece in his neck. Luckily it hadn't hit an artery or vein but he didn't like the look of it. He retrieved his emergency med kit.
"You can't take it out. Not here." Advised A'den.
"Not going to. Just need to stabilise it." He retrieved a spray and a tiny cutting torch. He carefully sliced off the protruding corner then sprayed coagulant. He bandaged around it, trying not to push it further.
"I think it's the tumbling around that we did that knocked him unconscious. The force of the blast didn't really hit us."
"I've brought some help." A female voice interrupted, followed by a Wookiee growl.
"Ruh gwyaaaag." (I am a friend.)
They both turned to look at the dark furred Wookieee crawling in the wreckage with Yllia.
"I told you to stay back but we'll discuss that later. How can he help?" Asked Vau.
"He can carry Sev to your ship if you can cover him."
Vau looked at the unlikely pair, "Agreed!" They had no better option.
.
The Wookiee picked up Sev like a child and growled something that A'den couldn't quite translate. Something about a hairless being.
Then he set off moving quickly across the landing field towards the undergrowth; they followed him providing cover where they could, as the Stormtroopers were beginning to move out to check the whole field. The sooner they reached the forest the better.
.
Keldabe
Imperial Garrison.
The blue hologram of Melusar flickered as the signal wavered; he was obviously not using the official channels. Maybe bouncing it off several Holonet relays, thought Niner.
"Sir." He stood to attention, never sure if he was being watched or not and it didn't matter where they were; he never let down his guard now, not even in the squad room. He was ultra careful.
"We have an authorised contact within the Mandalorians who are working with the Empire on Mandalore."
"Sir?"
"A woman called Reau. Do you know her?" Melusar's eyes narrowed when he asked the question.
"Yes sir. Although of her, is perhaps more appropriate. She was a trainer on Kamino."
Melusar looked at him for several long seconds. Niner knew he was scrutinising him for any tells.
"I take it you don't approve of her." Melusar was observant, Niner had given something away. A tremor, the inflection in his voice. He would have to be careful. He'd been doing this for so long, it should be second nature but he was tired. Ready to go.
"I don't think she can be trusted. I think she has her own agenda, one that may not fit ours. She always has had, Sir."
He swallowed feeling as if he had a lump of synth protein stuck in his gullet.
"Is it going to be a problem?"
"No, I'll just be extra careful around p her."
"Good man. We'll go with her for the moment. She seems to think she knows where one of them is — Mij Gilamar. Is he one of your contacts?"
"No sir." Lying came easier after a while, "But we need permission to go up into the Northern Regions and from there, go dark." He took a chance, "Rede has been in contact with RI and obtained some Intel, a mole but we don't know exactly where they are based. We can use our contacts to get additional Intel on this."
"Rede's new to your squad. Untested. You trust him with this? He's not being used by Intel for their own ends, is he? This is our mission."
Kriff! Melusar trusted less people than he did.
"Rede learns quickly sir. He's loyal. I've checked the Intel over. It looks good sir. As good as any Intel is. It can change in a moment."
"Okay agreed. But you meet with Reau first and report back what you find from her but after that it's your judgement call."
"Yes sir."
Melusar's holo call dropped and Niner relaxed a fraction. Now how to deal with his squad.
.
Aggressor
Hyperspace.
The blue hologram sprang to life, showing the small version of his wife. He would never tire of saying that.
"Den?"
"You okay?"
"Yes. Are you?"
"Cuts and bruises. It's good to hear your voice." He leaned forward, studying the hologram.
"Yours too." She smiled, "I can't wait for you to come back…Sev?"
He leaned forward, worried.
"Bad."
He watched her face.
"We're getting ready for him now."
"l know, I've not been there for you ." He continued but she cut him off.
"I've remembered so many things." She put her hand to the hologram. His hand met hers, just as they had years before, it was a connection of sorts. "And I've missed you." She added.
"What is it then?" There was silence at the other end "Ner?"
She shook her head.
"I'll see you soon."
The hologram dropped, as the signal failed and he sat back frowning.
Vau was hunched over the controls. The scrawny female, Yllia, she called herself was sitting next to a prone Sev, studying him.
"Problems?" Asked Vau.
"Not sure." But they're getting ready for Sev. What's our ETA?"
"One standard hour."
.
Kyrimorut.
Ryssa watched as A'den struggled to walk down the ramp of Vau's ship. She saw his eyes drawn to her; she could be showing now and she would have to tell him. Then his eyes went to Kal, who stood behind her.
"He'll be fine. He's strong." Kal didn't sound particularly confident about that but he probably had to tell himself that.
She swallowed.
"He doesn't look fine."
She felt the reassuring squeeze of her shoulder.
"Have faith in him."
Vau followed him down with a body on a repulsor med bed; he was limping and accompanied by a young girl.
"Fierfek!" Kal exclaimec
Whilst Ryssa was happy he had been found, she was happier she had her husband back and looking in one piece. She had no eyes for anyone else.
Before she realised he was in front of her, lifting her up, eyes only for her. He slid her back down his body, while everyone was rushing around with Sev.
As her feet touched the ground, his forehead touched hers.
"Cyar'ika." He whispered it.
"Are you alright?"
"Better than Sev. He had limited compromised Katarn armour. The Wookiees helped us get him out." A'den turned to look at the body on the stretcher.
"You?" He asked again.
"Fine. But I need to help Sev and you need to be seen by a medic."
He didn't believe her, he knew his wife and there was something different about her. She was keeping something from him. He let her go.
She kissed his cheek and ran after Sev; he followed slowly behind, joined by his father.
"She's fine, lad. Been through a lot. Let's look at you?"
They stopped and A'den turned around.
"Bad was it? Even Vau looks a bit— ruffled."
"The Empire has some new toys. A present." He handed over the splicing tool. Kal held it for a few seconds then put it in his pocket.
"She is okay, isn't she?"
"Don't you worry. She's well. Now go and get yourself checked over."
.
Tann stopped Ryssa before she reached the med bay.
"You can't operate, you know that."
Ryssa held out her hands, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop the tremors.
Ryssa closed her eyes, knowing the truth when she heard it; if her hands shook badly in the middle of an operation, it could be fatal. She didn't know exactly what was needed yet.
"We need to talk to Mij." Tann persisted, "I can help, if needed." She looked around distracted.
"I know. You're right."
Ryssa looked around to where Tann was staring— L'leth's room.
"Is there something wrong with L'leth?"
"Not with L'leth. She's fine, stable. No, there's someone else who is anxious, very anxious. Waiting for something to happen."
"Jaing? Or Vau."
"Vau?"
"The one in black." Ryssa explained.
"No. They're both fairly unreadable?"
"Who else then?"
"Gah! They've gone now."
"Let's talk to Mij."
.