Chapter Text
A collective groan comes from the cockpit. "Felucia or Hoth?!" She yells back to the three as she tries to disinfect a burn on Wreckers side. He twitches and groans when she dabs at it. She pulls back, pointing a blue gloved finger at him. "Keep moving and I'll let this heal the normal way." She threatens. His eyes go wide. "That sounded like a Felucia groan!" She calls.
"How many times have you been there?" Hunter appears in the doorway.
"Twice." She focuses on Wrecker again. "The second time I was deployed with a group of medics to help with the diseases that tore through the battalions." She frowns at the memory of the men. They lost almost as many if not more to disease and wildlife than to the actual fighting. She shakes the memory from her mind as she focuses on Wrecker again. "What's the mission objective?" Her voice goes a little flat. If any of them notice they don't let on.
"We have to meet with a General Secura. They will be giving us the orders." Hunter crosses his arms over his chest.
"We'll be working with the 327th, then?" She inquires. She closes her eyes and focuses on the burn. Wrecker heals faster than the others but not as fast as her magic, he will need the extra boost if they are headed to a mission right away. "I've spent some time with Master Secura. That was before the war. If she is asking for help they must really need it." She cleans up the mess around her before pulling off her gloves. "Go get some rest. I mean it, Wrecker." She points a finger at him as he walks off in the direction of the racks.
"We are going to be working with three of their ARCs." Hunter says.
She makes an unimpressed noise. "Fine. I'm not fixing any black eyes or broken egos." She sighs. "When was the last time I ate?" She wonders aloud to herself.
"We have a few hours before we get to Felucia, eat and get some rest." Hunter lays a hand on her shoulder.
"I still need to clear Tech. Send him back here for me?" She asks as she picks up her scanner. The last mission was a bit rougher than usual, Wrecker was burned from an explosion and she's pretty sure Crosshair is hiding something from her. What, she hasn't figured out yet but she will. She always does.
"After that, you need sleep." Hunter looks down at her with his Sargent face.
"Fine." She throws her hands up.
"Grumpy medics, I swear." She hears his grumble as he walks away. She would have said something back but she just doesn't have the energy.
Tech finds her a few moments later. "You look exhausted." He says as he sits.
"Three days in the field will do that to you. Follow my finger with your eyes, don't move your head." Her newly gloved finger moves across his field of vision. "Good. Bright light." She checks his pupillary reflex. "Perfect. Squeeze my fingers."
He rolls his eyes. "I'm fine. You don't need to do all of this." He squeezes her fingers.
"I do it because you guys like to hide injuries from me. I had no idea that Wrecker was burned and he was planning on treating it himself. You four are incredibly stubborn. You think you're big manly commandos, that you can handle anything. My job is to take care of you assholes, keep you healthy." She kneels on the ground and places her gloved hands against his armored shins. "Kick out for me." She says, he does as she asks but not without another eye roll. "You, my darling, sassy cinnamon roll, are done. Please get some rest." She pushes herself up off the floor and turns to her kit to restock it.
When he walks off she slumps into the chair with a sigh. "I had a feeling you would run out of steam." Hunter says as he walks up to her. He starts to unfasten the straps of her pauldrons.
"I have to restock." She mumbles as she reaches for the kit.
He stops her. "You can in a bit. Eat this and then go shower." He hands her a ration bar. She scowls at it. She has gotten spoiled, the team eats a decent amount of actual food, not the crappy rations she lived on in the field. "I know it isn't your favorite but you need nutrients. Now, eat it." He points to the bar and she unwraps it, taking a bite.
She slowly relaxes as he works the knots out of her shoulders, taking off armor as he goes. "You take such good care of us." His voice is low and gruff. It makes her shiver. He leans down and plants soft kiss to her neck, under the collar of her blacks. "Just relax. Let me take care of you." He whispers in her ear. Her eyes drift closed as he lays open mouthed kisses along her neck line. She leans back against his warm chest and actually relaxes, letting all of the tension melt from her form. "That's it, pretty girl. Just relax for me." His hands slowly trail down her sides and break the seal on her blacks. His hands are warm as they trace the skin there.
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Her skin is so soft and she's so warm and pliant under his hands. He slips his hands down to her waistband and breaks the seal on her blacks. She gasps when his hands touch her skin. "So beautiful." He mumbles into her skin. He looks down at the plants adorning her sides and hips, one of them curls under the waist band, he tries not to think about where it goes. "Tell me about this one." He taps his finger against a plant with long bladed leaves that trails up the right side of her ribcage.
"Rinor, on Dathomir, The Singing Night Clan uses it for it's healing properties." Her voice is gentle and soothing.
"That doesn't sound too bad. All of these are supposed to be poisonous right?" He places a kiss against her throat as he continues to trace the plant.
"The Nightsistsers found a way to concentrate those properties and turn it into poison. If enough is used it can cause paralysis of the respiratory system." She shutters when he pulls her shirt up higher to see the full tattoo.
She tenses slightly when he traces over a moth wing that dips under the band of the sports bra she wears. "What's so scary about this moth?"
"The Stinger Moth, found on Ronika. When they sting they secrete a toxin that rots the skin around the puncture wound. If not treated in time it can cause limbs to fall off." She leans back into him as he continues his assault on her neck. She smells so good. He buries his nose into her neck and places open mouthed kisses there.
He wants to stay there wrapped around her all night when she yawns. He peels himself away from her, but not before kissing her neck a few more times. "Go shower and get some sleep. You can restock your kit when we're planet side."
She stands and tiredly strips the rest of her kit before placing it neatly on the rack before wandering off. Once he's sure that she is following his orders he makes his way back to the cockpit.
"Have fun?" Crosshair snarks as he flips a few switches, briefly looking over his shoulder.
Hunter scowls at him. "She's getting some sleep and a shower. She deserves the break." He crosses his arms over his chest. "You both need to get some sleep. This mission isn't going to be easy, Felucia never is." Tech squeezes around him to get out of the cockpit and bounds towards the racks, no doubt going to go curl around Reaper as soon as she's done with her shower. Hunter sighs as he slips into the pilots seat, fixing his gaze on the stars streaking above him. He tries to prepare himself for another mission, one where they have to work with regular ARC troopers. He knows Crosshair will get into at least one altercation and Wrecker will of course join in. He isn't as worried about Tech and Reaper but he knows that Reaper's abilities might make her a target. He sighs and closes his eyes. This war really needs to come to an end.
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"Those three are not getting on our ship without going through decon first. Look at them! They're covered in, honestly, I don't even want to know at this point in time. If they get shot, they will end up dead." She crosses her arms over her chest as she watches the three troopers walk up to them, General Secura and Commander Bly in tow.
Hunter sighs through their private comm link. "You're probably right. They should be hosed down. I'll send you and Tech back to set it up in a bit. Let's hear the objective first."
"Gentlemen. Thank you for coming." General Secura says as she approaches the holo table. She is streaked in the same mud that her troopers are covered in. "You arrived on a good day, it hasn't rained yet." She smiles at the group in front of her even though she can't see their faces. She turns to her commander. "Commander Bly will be debriefing you, I'm needed elsewhere. Good luck." She nods at them as she walks off her lekku trailing behind her.
Bly points to some coordinates. "We need you to go behind enemy lines and cause as much damage as possible. Take out as many of their tanks and fighters as you can. We just can't keep up, the men that we still have are exhausted. We can't keep taking these losses." Bly braces himself against the table, he looks worn out. More so than the usual commander.
Hunter steps forward. "It's a suicide mission." He crosses his arms over his chest, she can tell he's frowning at this half baked plan.
"We were told that's what your team is good at." One of the ARCs steps forward, looking them over. He has the usual ARC arrogance. It makes her skin crawl.
Commander Bly takes a step towards the three troopers. "This is Lt. Quake, Lt. Fault and Lt. Tremor. They will be going with you." They sound like batchmates, batchmates are rare this far into the war. Her mind flashes to Fives and Echo, how Fives changed after Echo's death. Echo who was sweet and kind and had some actual common sense. Gods, she misses him.
"Tech, Crosshair, Wrecker and Reaper." Hunter points to each of them. "Tech, Reaper, go set up decon. We will go over some more logistics with Commander Bly here." Hunters says, sliding off his helmet and locking eyes with the ARCs.
"Yes, sir." Reaper replies.
When they are out of earshot Tech slips off his helmet. She does the same. "Are you alright? You always get tense around ARC troopers. I know they're assholes, but they just seem to really bother you."
"Most of them are assholes. There were two that were part of the 501st. I worked with them pretty often. Now, they're both dead. Seeing them just reminds me of them. That's all." She shrugs. "We need to get them deconned before nightfall. We can't be out here after sundown." She looks through the jungle, she knows what lurks there. "I hate this place. Put your bucket back on." She nudges Tech, sliding her helmet on.
"You've been here twice you said?" He asks over the comm once his helmet is firmly in place.
"First time was with the 501st. We lost our Commander. She was kidnapped. Quite literally. Trandoshans snagged her. We looked through the jungle for hours." She shutters. "The second time I came in with a group of medics to help with the diseases. They don't effect my species like they do humans. They sent in a bunch of us who weren't human just to make sure we could treat them. I had never burned myself out magic wise until then. It was awful. I was hoping I wouldn't have to come back here. My only goal is to keep all of you alive. Speaking of which I need to repack the medpack." She stares at her boots as she walks, she's glad for decent boots this time around, the mud staying on the outside of her boots and armor.
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"I don't get paid enough for this." Hunter grumbles as he scrubs the mud from his boots.
Reaper stands in front of the ARCs as they take turns in the decontamination shower. "Wait, you're getting paid?" She asks over her comm.
Wait, what? She's an officer. "Are you not?" He asks.
"The Jedi took me in. So I guess I'm technically one of them. They don't get paid either. They just run around doing whatever weird religious culty crap needs to be done." She picks up a scrub brush and starts going to town on one of the troopers chest plates. "How are you this gross? This is like twelve layers of mud." She groans. "No! Get back in there! I don't care if it's cold, you're not getting on my ship looking like that!" She yells at the trooper. She physically steers the half naked trooper back into the stream of water. He's the joker of the group, he has piercing green eyes and a scar across his chin. His hair is longer and a tuft of it that's dyed blue hangs dripping off of his forehead. Hunter thinks that he is Quake? Maybe? "Get the others inside. I'll finish with him. We don't need an Acklay eating us."
Hunter hauls himself off the ramp and motions for the others. "Reaper wants us inside for the night."
The team doesn't ask questions as they all move, one of the ARCs stands outside. "You just take orders from him like that?" Fault is the one who likes to argue, his hair is blonde and there's significant scarring across his eyes.
Hunter sighs, "Reaper has been here twice already. We listen to our medic, Reaper knows best." He just wants to go inside and sleep.
"Tremor, Fault. Go inside. Listen to the officer." Quake points into the ship and the other two finally listen.
"Go get some rest Hunter. I'll be in in a few." Reaper says sweetly over their teams comm. He watches her wrangle the ARC once more before disappearing inside.
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"Are you batchmates?" She asks the trooper. Quake, he said his name was.
"Yea, how can you tell?" He asks as he dries his hair.
"The names. Quake, Fault, Tremor. You guys were named after earthquakes. Kind of cool." She shrugs and wipes down his fancy pauldron.
"Fault is a little rough. He questions orders a lot. Tremor is quiet. We haven't worked with another team in some time. It might take them a second to adjust. We've been out in this jungle for awhile." His green eyes sparkle in the waning daylight.
"I've been to this hell hole twice already, maybe the third time won't be so bad. Come on, let's get inside." She motions him inside and closes the ramp.
She wanders into the ship to find the team huddled around the table, inhaling food. Fault and Crosshair stare down each other with growing scowls. She slips off her gloves and finally takes off her helmet, running a hand through her unruly hair.
Tremor stares at her but doesn't say anything. He nudges Fault, who looks over in her direction. "You didn't tell us she wasn't one of us." Fault locks eyes with Hunter.
"Is that going to be a problem?" Hunter all but snarls at them.
"No, it won't be." Quake butts in. "Just like working with General Secura. It'll be fine." He throws her a wink. The entire team bristles at the gesture. This mission is going to be a disaster.