STEALTH and TRACK: BOOK ONE

C H A P T E R T W E N T Y-E I G H T

THIRD PERSON POV

"Hold still." Fern breathed softly as she gently detached Hunter's armor from his aching body. She wanted to remove his black, skin-tight sark, but she figured that would be too arduous. After she placed his chest-plate aside, she knelt in front of the injured clone and could see where the shot would've hit if it hadn't been for his armor... Her fingers brushed over the wound; she could feel where a bruised knot formed. "That shot would've struck your heart..." She gave an airy sigh. "You would've been dead." Hunter didn't say anything. His head hung forward, and the tips of his shoulder-length hair lightly touched Fern's hairline.

She did her best to mend him, injecting a pain-killer in his neck and wrapping bandages slowly around his shoulder and chest. She could feel his muscles twitching and constricting with every touch, but there wasn't much she could do to ease the process. The heavy silence would be interrupted by Hunter's groans and air hissing through his teeth.

"I'm sorry." Fern said.

"What?" the sergeant scoffed. "You're not going to make some quip about how I need to 'man up?'"

The female clone's nose scrunched up and her mouth twisted with lip. She then tugged at the end of the bandage, momentarily crunching on his wound and insides. Hunter winced and huffed under the quick pain, but nonetheless chortled with amusement. Fern suppressed a smile. "Is that enough quip for you?"

"Should've kept my mouth shut."

"Could've, would've, should've." She finished tying the linen in place, letting her hand rest on his shoulder from behind afterwards. There was a brief pause before Hunter muttered, "So, you know the bounty hunter that took Omega?"

"Yes," Fern nodded, and as if on cue, Tech, Echo, and Wrecker huddled around in the main cabin. The female clone leaned against the console; the outside of her leg grazed along the sergeant's. "His name is Cad Bane, and he's a notorious bounty hunter throughout the galaxy. Probably the best there's ever been. A real gunslinger, if you know what I mean. Had countless run-ins with the Jedi, including attempted kidnapping of the Chancellor and both attempted and executed assassinations of political figures and Jedi. He is ruthless and very capable of any task he is given, for the right price."

"If you know him, I'm guessing you had a couple run-ins yourself?" Echo implied. Fern nodded again and crossed her arms. "He's despicable and a downright nuisance, a skillful and impressive one, but annoying. Especially with that stupid hat and the way he chews on toothpicks." Sort of like Crosshair's habit... Her nose scrunched up once more as a memory flooded back. "Once we sparred in hand-to-hand combat, he pulled a cheap trick when we both grappled each other, and he boosted himself up, dragging me like a rag doll! I was almost flung off a cliff if it wasn't for General Kenobi."

Wrecker whistled in awkwardness.

"Anywho, it's strange to me that Bane would take on a kidnapping job again. It's not his style. Especially a child." She raised her hand to her chin in a pondering position. "He must be getting paid real good by whomever hired him."

"It's most likely by the same person who hired Fennec Shand on Pantora." Echo presumed.

"But what do they want with Omega?" Hunter gritted his teeth.

"Because she's more valuable than we've realized." Tech chimed in, his nose buried in his datapad.

"W-what do you mean?" Wrecker sputtered.

The intellectual clone lifted his head. "I further analyzed Omega's genetic profile and discovered she has pure first-generation DNA."

"Wow..." Wrecker awed.