Chapter 08: Trust

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The rest of the day was arduous, annoying, and actually pretty fruitful.

They waited close to an hour and a half before the last of the fighting finally died down. Close to ten minutes had passed since the last blaster discharge had sounded before Seth and Nova finally decided to come out of their hiding spot. They killed a handful of rakghouls that were still lingering in the basement, then took the opportunity to actually close the three openings from the basement out into the sewer, though at one point Nova had to do some quick repairs to one of the panels. As they closed off the basement, Seth found himself vaguely disappointed at the laziness of the Drek gang. All they had to do was come down here, clear out the rakghouls, make some simple repairs and close a few doors to secure their headquarters.

Maybe it was on their to-do list.

Well...not anymore.

After sealing off the basement, they had made their way upstairs and taken another hour to clear out the hospital. They killed off whatever rakghouls were still left alive, and occasionally found the occasional holdout or surviving Drek who'd made it into a closet or a bathroom. And they'd killed them, too. When the hospital was secure, the pair spent another hour grabbing not just everything they possibly could, but the most valuable and mobile of the supplies that the Dreks had gathered at their hospital headquarters.

They'd packed their pockets and their packs with credits, rare medical supplies, (including several containers of kolto), weapons, tools, power cells, and rare spare parts. Nova had pointed out that there was no way they were going to risk coming back, given that someone was likely going to come check out the radio silence, and they didn't want to be here when that happened. And so they'd gone back down into the sewers, opening the doors up again to help let more rakghouls back into the hospital and make it that much more dangerous for whatever Dreks came down to investigate. Though he really didn't look forward to the walk back.

But they'd taken their time, avoided the rakghouls, and managed to get back to the outcast settlement without a problem.

Seth thought that they'd move right along with Nova's plan, but she became oddly defensive almost as soon as they'd gotten back. After dropping off all the supplies they'd found and he'd asked her for more details, she'd told him that they would talk 'later tonight', then had disappeared. Unsure of what the sudden shift in her mood was, Seth had caught a meal, then gone to see however else he could help out.

He'd spent the rest of the day doing a series of oddjobs across the settlement.

He'd helped Yex by tracking down some tools and parts he needed.

He'd played nurse for Seri while she was dealing some injuries.

He'd helped fight off a rakghoul attack at one point.

It was, at least, an interesting and eventful day. But as it was drawing to a close and he finished up another oddjob that the locals had for him, he finally decided enough was enough, he was going to go see Nova and figure out what this grand plan of hers was. He tracked down her shack and knocked on the door.

"Come in," she said. She sounded tired, and wary.

He entered and found her sitting on her bed, staring at something, what looked like a datapad. As he closed the door behind him, she sighed softly and powered it down, then slipped it beneath her pillow and stood.

"We should talk," he said.

"Yes, I suppose it's time. Sit," she replied, pointing to a small table with two chairs around it. As he sat, she poked her head outside, looked around, then firmly closed the door and the window. Nova crossed the small shack and sat down opposite him.

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