The Beginning of the End

Chapter 8: Escape: Crain

[1 day after C7]

As Crain woke up, his mind flooded by nightmares of Maul and memories of Order 66. His old self was being burned away with the fall of his beloved Republic. Everything that's happened... When can it stop? He wouldn't know. As Crain woke up, he'd kind of just stare at the dark sky. There wasn't a sun nearby on the moon, so it was always dark out. We'd just settled into a kind of routine. But Crain would get up slowly after that minute of quiet, with no mementos of fighting... or Mauls rampage.

As he got to his knees and then pushed himself up, he'd look around. A few others were starting to wake as Rain's head was passed out against their weapons crate. Mark was still staring at the fire, it was reasonable to assume that he didn't get any sleep. As he walked over, Crain tapped on Mark's helmet as another soldier got Rain awake. But for now he just looked at the fire with Mark. Even with the surprising peace of the dead of night, Crain was thankful that he had enough spare parts to make a flashlight modification for his helmet. It would've proven useful in the refurbishment of the LA-AT. But he made due with a hand flashlight. He was just glad there was an actual engineer with them now that could look at the LA-AT. As he stepped up, looking around as he began to rouse the men. Telling them to load everything up. As they loaded it all up, he'd haul one of the heavier crates of ammunition and rifles to the LA-AT. As everyone loaded up, Crain nodded towards Bang to fly them off the planet. They had finally Escaped that god forsaken moon...

Bang would choose another planet to go too as Crain would stair at the ground and eventually into the void of space as they flew to Mandalore. It was the only planet they knew was close as they flew down. He'd feel them land as they looked around. When they looked around, there were still many dead. As Crain knelt next to a fallen clone, he would look around and notice Vaughn's body was missing. He was curious now, as he walked over. He'd pick up Vaughn's rifle, it had been abandoned... as he saw it he would pick up the rifle when Crain heard a blaster shot in the distance. He'd quickly run over as he saw a blaster shot sunk into Bang's back and a Mandalorian dead.  A medic would get on his knees and begin to treat the fallen Bang. He was injured and his breathing was labored but he was alive... barely. One of the loyalists... he'd quickly look around as Rain stepped forward.
"Alright, everyone stay with the ship. Me and Crain are going to get a map and probably steal a better ship." Rain would signal for Crain to follow him as he would walk with him. As he left, he'd leave his Carbine and take Vaughn's rifle with him. His face had been hardened. Seeing the fall of the Tribunal, Bang getting shot, his whole company dying with the Tribunal. It wasn't fair, the world had hit him and he hadn't had a chance to hit back. Crain's hands tightened as his knuckles turned white. But Rain's voice broke him out of his head.
"You see that? It looks like a CR70." Crain would look up as his hands relaxed again. When he reached for his carbine, he would feel Vaughn's rifle. Memories hitting him as he unslings it. There were a few small markings on it, signifying what battles that Vaughn went through. His heart stung with pain as he aimed at the crash. It wasn't a CR70, but it was damn close. It was a Consular.
"Crain, you see anyone?" Rain would ask Crain as his rifle's iron sights gave him a basic outline of the ship. He would strain his eyes as he looked for enemy forces. There wasn't any, and Crain had a bad feeling about it.
"I don't see anyone, but I have a bad feeling about this sir..." Crain would respond as he stands up, wishing his binoculars survived the fall. He'd watch the area around the Consular warily. He would set his blasters safety to "off".
"Same here, keep your weapon ready. We don't know if they're hiding." Rain would begin to walk over to the crash. It had mostly been undamaged, Crain didn't like how perfect this seemed. But he would walk with Rain as he frequently checked their surroundings. The crash made a large clearing so it would be easy to get cornered there while they would walk to the ramp, he would begin to lower the ramp. Watching the entrance carefully as Rain had a smoke grenade ready and was holding his rifle with one hand. Crain would follow behind, and as he walked he would trip over a fallen Mandalorian. As he stood back up, he would notice that their chest was still pumping up and down slightly. As Crain stared, beginning to aim his rifle at the head of the fallen, Rain would walk over. Noticing everything as he runs over, gently laying his hand on the top of his rifle. Gently pushing it down before walking over to the Mandalorian.
"We aren't Mandalorian. Besides, we need all the friends we can get." Crain didn't want to hear it, but he needed too. He would watch as Rain set the Mandalorian's arm in place, the Mandalorian seemed smaller than the other ones he's fought. But Crain would walk into the main bridge of the Consular, looking around as he checks the display, pulling a DataCard out of the display, it was a map! They finally had a way to get around the galaxy.

As he looks at the map, there was a small black card next the console, though when Crain picked it up, it shone with light. It had a map, this ship had a hangar. It could carry 2 LAATs. As he was memorizing the controls, Rain walked in with the Mandalorian. But as Rain walked in, Crain noticed the Mandalorian's helmet was off. Was that a kid? Why did a kid have Mandalorian Armor? He didn't have time for questions. He ran over as he looked at Rain.
"He's just a kid, why is he in Mandalorian Armor?" He would look concerned as Rain spoke again. His tone sounded sad and he explained something that he was never ready to hear.
"He's severely malnourished, and someone took advantage of her. I don't know who." Crain looked at her with sadness as he wanted to speak but couldn't find any words. Looking into the young girls eyes, he looked maybe 14-15? Someone violated a young boy... Crain looked at Rain as he now had a different feeling about the young boy.
"We can't leave him, we need to take him with us." Crain would look at him with certainty. Feeling horrible for the poor kid.
"We will, but now we need to get the others here. Is it possible to get the ship here?" Crain would look up at Rain, walking over to the table with the black card and showing him the hangar.
"Yeah, we've got the space for 1 or 2, I'll comm the men. Let me know what else you find out about the kid." He would walk out of the Consular, pulling his comma out, he would tell the group where they are. As he sat on the ramp. When the transport approached, he'd help direct it and get it into the Consular. Before ironing out the small amount of damage before he'd get in and fly off, having the others help him and act as the crew.

As the hours ticked by, he'd hear that the boy had woken up. He quickly let someone else get in the pilots seat. He'd open the door and walk in, sitting across from him. The boy looked scared, shivering even in his heavy Mandalorian armor.

"Hello, may I ask for your name?" He would look at the boy, setting his helmet down as he smiled comfortingly.
"I-Ivar, my name is Ivar." He would be visibly scared of the Clone and he felt sorry that Ivar woke up and was surrounded by people he perceived to want to do him harm.
"We are not here to hurt you, we're just trying to survive. And I don't feel that it would do you any good to leave you." The boy would see his reason and just sigh. Not really wanting to talk and Crain could tell. He'd walk out of the room as he let Ivar be alone.