🐺 ~PROJECT SAC-1~ ⚔️

Chapter 28 - The Snipers Loyalty 🤚🏻😔

(TODAY - EARLY MORNING - DAY 37 w/ THE BAD BATCH)

It wasn't until long after they arrived on Kaliida before Hunter got some answers. Only after Talla had suffered many grueling hours of examinations and tests and treatments and a bacta tank session that were all a blur for her. It was an agonizingly slow time for Hunter since he was forced to wait around with the others, doing nothing but worry and being hypervigilant.

When Talla was transferred to a private recovery room, Hunter was thankful to snag a few hours rest like she did, though it was only a cat nap in his instance considering his bed was an uncomfortable Kaminoan type egg chair. Hunter technically wasn't supposed to be in there at all, but after a day and a half of doing nothing but worrying, unable to see the injured duo, the Sergeant had forced his way into this room after Tech got notified on his datapad of her transfer, to this room specially made up by Nala Se for her 'personal project' in case she was ever treated here. It wasn't the Intensive Care Unit, so the Kaminoan Doctor no doubt glared at Hunter when he stubbornly refused to acknowledge her kind request to leave, because SAC-1 needed her rest and shouldn't be disturbed.

He just claimed a chair in the corner, without using any words saying he'd be silent as the grave so TALLA could rest, but he was not leaving, and that was that. The same was happening with Crosshair, them being unable to see him, so Hunter decided to physically be here with Talla, turning down the lights in the room and getting some rest himself while she recovered from all the treatment; Wrecker and Tech were back at the Marauder, anxiously waiting for the time Crosshair would be out of Intensive Care and they could be by his side as well, no matter where they put him.

Being in such a light slumber, Hunter was aware of Talla starting to wake up, her little groan of protest instantaneously making him alert.

The first thing Talla could make sense of when waking up was the feeling of laying on top of a soft and heavenly mattress, wrapped up in a nice warm blanket that she tugged around her more snugly with a happy sigh. Next, Talla registered how surprisingly comfortable she was laying here, despite wearing heavy armor. When wearing armor, one always had to sleep in odd positions that honestly made things only microscopically less uncomfortable than before, but every little bit counted when catching a few winks on a mission.

Habitually, Talla shifted to try making herself more comfortable, but her eyebrows snapped together when the pokes and prods of bulky armor weren't felt. She was indeed already comfortable, like actually comfortable. 'Wait a sec.' Her mistrustful eyes snapped open. 'I'm comfortable and sleeping with armor on so isn't.' Peeping down under the blanket, Talla saw a red tunic and pants dressing her body underneath the blanket instead of the plastoid-alloy. 'I'm not wearing my armor - Why am I not wearing armor?!'

Cold fear gripped her heart - these were experiment clothes! 'WHY AM I WEARING THESE?!?!' She shot upwards. It took all of two seconds to see the stark white walls and floors, bright white lights, and nauseating scent of antiseptic. Talla's mindset was back on Kamino as SAC-1. She cowered against the back of the raised hospital mattress, whimpering, "Oh kriff - Oh no -" Breaths and heart rate quickened, symptoms of an anxiety attack already coming on full force.

A calm, reassuring, baritone voice close by said her name.

Whipping to the left, Talla gasped more out of relief than fright when Hunter was close by, palms up to show he meant no harm. He placed one of those hands on her quivering shoulder when he was sure there'd be no risk for a black eye or a bruised rib. The panic-stricken woman latched onto his midriff and Hunter let her, knowing she'd need this hug to bring herself back down to reality. Anticipating beforehand her need for this sort of comfort, he'd even set aside his upper body armor earlier, sporting just his blacks from the waist up so he'd be more comfortable to hug. And because Hunter was also relieved, so extremely relieved that the woman he really cared about was finally awake, without a second thought he hunched over slightly and returned the hug with as much fervor. "You're not in a lab, and you're not on Kamino." Making sure to add lowly for good measure, even going so far as to tenderly cradle the back of her head to his chest. As opposed to tensing up like he usually did, a warm glow sparked in Hunter's chest that he allowed himself to feel instead of push away. It was a nice but cursed change of pace from the usual uneasiness. He liked being needed. He liked he was a comfort to her.