Nothing • Tech

31.War-Mantle

Cold, wet, shivering. Malaina felt a great deal of this. But the wet wasn't just rain. No, it was also a thicker crimson substance. And with the coldness there was also heat and stinging. The shivering was from the weather, but also from crippling anxiety as Malaina navigated the grounds with a blindfold on.

She had been hit so many times she couldn't believe they hadn't just eliminated her altogether. Every day was suffering, every day was fight or flight. Every face was crude and dark.

Every minute stretched out, feeling like hours. Hours of pain, hours of fear. Hours of hopelessness.

There was no way out of here. Malaina had met her fate.

The rain poured down even harder, making the Inquisitor rely entirely on her weakened Force senses to track the hunters down. They always got to her first, though. They would cut her deep enough she would scream in pain, but never deep enough to make her lose consciousness.

She was close to just doing it herself. Injuring herself bad enough that the training would end, that she would just get to soak in a bacta tank or spend half an hour in the medical bay to catch up with her horrible reality.

She heard the lightsaber ignite and before she could even lift hers, she felt the blade pierce through her entire abdomen. The inflictor removed the blindfold from her head, revealing Sixth Brother, or Master Cade.

He switched off his lightsaber and she fell to the ground.

Malaina jumped awake after the horrifying feeling that she was falling, letting out a sharp breath after the nightmare.

She leaned forward, placing her head in her hands. She forced herself to take deep breaths like Tech had taught her.

She found Tech sitting on the floor in the cockpit, working on a section of the upper panel. She sat down next to him, pulling her knees into her chest.

Tech glanced at her, his expression soft. He planted a kiss on her temple while muttering, "Hello, darling."

Wrecker started mocking the two of them and Malaina gave him a look, falling back against Tech's side. He pulled her closer, wrapping his arm around her so he could still use his hand to work.

However this didn't last long, because the transmission device started beeping. Echo glanced down at the contact. "We're being hailed. It's...Rex." He said in shock.

Tech and Malaina stood up, crowding closer while the others gathered to listen to what the clone Captain had to say. Rex's upper half appeared as a blue image in the center of the cockpit. He nods as a greeting, tugging the hood on his head down even further. He was cautious of something, and he spoke in a low tone, "Hello, boys. Sorry to cut right to it, but I could use your help."

Hunter straightened his stance, raising his chin up. "What do you need, Captain?"

"I received a distress signal from a clone trooper, but I'm a bit tied up at the moment to retrieve him." Rex responded, glancing over his shoulder wearily. Malaina could only make out the bottom half of his face.

Hunter frowned. "You want us to recover a reg?" He asked in disbelief.

"He's an old friend, and he's in trouble. I need you to get him out." Rex pleaded. Malaina picked up on the desperate weight in his tone. She redirected her gaze to Hunter, watching to see what he thinks.

Hunter briefly glanced off to the side at Omega before meeting eyes with Rex again. "Out of what exactly?" He asked hesitantly.

Rex suddenly started shifting around, background noises increasing. "Can't talk right now. Sending you his signal. I'll be in touch." And then he was gone.