"The chain codes are en route...with Omega." Tech chimed into the comm, exchanging vaguely worried expressions with Malaina and Echo. Hunter was not going to react to this well.
As expected, the Sergeant commed back with a faint growl. "By herself? You let her go by herself?!"
"Is Omega the only person he talks nicely to?" Malaina questioned, genuinely curious. She rested a hand on the back of Tech's chair, watching Echo's shoulders shake slightly. He was laughing.
"Well, we didn't let her go." Tech shrugged, shaking his head softly. "She ran off on her own."
"If anything happens to her-"
"Would you like for me to send Malaina after her?" Tech questioned, glancing up over his shoulder at the Inquisitor. He has a small smirk on his lips.
"No." The answer was instant, which made Malaina tilt her head back and laugh.
A few minutes later Echo went out to work on detaching the clamp from the leg of the Marauder so that Clone Force 99 can fly out of here.
Malaina sat in the cockpit with Tech, eyes focused on the lit up buttons on the dash. Her new plan was to wait until Hunter got here so she knows for sure it's okay for her to leave.
Tech approached her and wordlessly handed his datapad out to her.
Malaina frowned and reluctantly took the device, looking at the collage of images displayed. Mountainous terrain, evergreen forests, frozen lakes. The ground was covered in snow.
Malaina's head whipped up to Tech, eyes widening. "Where is this?" She asked, the terrain looking exactly like what has appeared in her dreams.
"I estimate that you are from Krownest, a terrestrial planet blanketed in ice and snow in the Mandalore sector of the Outer Rim territory." Tech explained, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his neck before awkwardly lowering himself back into his seat.
Malaina looked back down at the images, brows knitting together. "That would explain the Mando'a and how I feel about snow." She nodded, handing the datapad back to Tech. "It does look familiar."
Krownest was her home? Did she still have family there?
She scanned the man sitting across from her. "Why..." She trailed off, leaving her mouth slightly parted as she fidgeted with her fingers in her lap. "Why haven't you given me weird looks or just shown any hatred or mistrust for me?"
Tech set his datapad on his lap, eyes widening while he adjusted his goggles with two fingers. "You have not done anything to make me hate you."
Malaina lowered her head, eyes flickering across the ground. She didn't think anyone needed a reason to hate her. Maybe being a darjetii was enough. "Hmm." Is all she said in response. Malaina felt Tech's eyes on her, and they remained there for a few minutes.
But Echo had been working on the clamp for a lot longer than it should take to remove it, and Tech started to question his efficiency. "What is taking so long with the boot? Are you trying to get caught?"
"I'm doing my best. You wanna come out here and give it a try?" Echo retorted with a hiss.
"Tech, where is Omega?" Hunter questioned, sounding both worried and impatient.
Tech looked back out the windshield, his shoulders raising slightly. She was out of sight. "I...do not know." He replied slowly, turning to Malaina. Their eyes met, sharing their silent panic about the missing kid.
The comm was silent for a few seconds and then Hunter reluctantly requests, "Send Fifth Sister after her."
Malaina raised her eyebrows in shock.
Tech lowered his comm slightly, examining her face. "Are you willing to do that?" He asked her thoughtfully.
The brunette nodded. "If I can hunt Jedi then surely I can hunt an eleven year old." Malaina replied confidently, hopping out of her chair and exiting the Marauder in a rush.
She gave Echo a salute as she passed him, her steps silently hitting the pavement despite the urgency she was moving with.
It was almost the middle of the night, the three moons of Saleucami had been out for quite a while now. And Malaina took the darkness as an advantage, weaving through the crates of items stripped from impounded ships as she kept an open connection to the Force, searching for a specific young lifeform.
In her black robes, Malaina was hard to spot, and with her highly trained skills the chances are she won't be caught by any shiny white bucketheads.
It didn't take long for Malaina to get a lead on Omega's whereabouts. An astromech unit started beeping at an alarmingly loud volume, shouting out to the Imperials that it had found an intruder.
Malaina picked up her pace, following the sound of the droid. As she got closer there was an obvious shushing coming from someone. Omega.
Turning the last corner, Malaina held out a hand to the droid, squeezing the air and making the unit burst. Its head went flying across the shipyard.
"Malaina?" Omega whispered from her crouched position, hands holding onto the chain codes for dear life.
"Are you hurt?" Malaina asked, kneeling down in front of the kid. Omega shook her head, to which Malaina sighed in relief. "Good. Hunter's looking for you, best get going."
And then the brunette sensed a ripple in the Force. Cold and dark. Familiar. Malaina would recognize the Orange Zabrak Inquisitor anywhere.
Tenth Brother.
Her gut churned as she pulled Omega to her feet, now full of worry for the kid's life. "Now. Go now!" She said strongly, gently pushing the blonde away. Omega nodded and darted off for the spaceport.
Malaina turned around in time to see the Zabrak approaching, his hand reaching down to grab his duel-wield spinning lightsaber model.
She reached down to grab her single blade lightsaber, only to remember it had been taken from her by Hunter.
Well, she was going to engage in a battle with him, but running seems really good right about now.
So that's what Malaina did. She turned her butt back around and darted in the opposite direction of the corrupted Zabrak.
"You didn't actually think you could run from this, did you, Fifth Sister?" Tenth Brother asked, his voice echoing across the grounds.
Malaina kept running, but glanced over her shoulder to take in the orange and black skin, the short horns on his head. "Well you're certainly not making it easy." She responded, her feet coming to a halt when she felt a tug on the braid on her left side.
She was then dragged by an invisible force all the way over to the older Inquisitor, her left braid now wrapped in his hand. The tug of her hair caused her head to ache, but that dulled compared to the fact that she could be seconds from death.
Tenth Brother tugged on her braid even harder. Malaina clenched her jaw and began to raise her hands to try and break away his hold on her hair, but was met with the sound of a lightsaber igniting and one of the two searing red blades inches from her neck.
"Trooper, alert the others that the rogue clones are in the shipyard. Detain them and send them back to Kamino. They'll be taken care of there." Tenth Brother ordered.
Malaina's eyes widened and she glanced to her left at the Marauder, the top of Tech's head being seen from the windshield. "No. I'll go with you willingly if you leave them be." She bargained, raising her hands behind her to grab onto his wrist that was still pulling harshly on her braid.
Tenth Brother breathed out a silent laugh through his nose, blade inching closer to her neck. The heat grew more intense, her skin starting to sweat. "You're coming with me no matter what. I'll carry your headless body back to Arkanis if I have to."
"Wow I'm so scared. Maker have mercy on my soul." Malaina muttered monotonously, nails digging into the visible skin on Tenth Brother's wrist.
Tenth Brother growled, but it was drowned out by the blaster fight that was now going down between the rogue clones and the Empire-loyal clones.
Out of nowhere Hunter flies over the fence, blaster pointed at Tenth Brother. He pulls the trigger, stunning the male Inquisitor before he could even react.
Malaina falls the rest of the way to the ground in shock. "Holy shit. Holy kriff. Holy-"
"How did they find you?" Hunter asks with a glare as he kicks the lightsaber away from the unconscious Zabrak.
Malaina rubs the tender spot where Tenth Brother had pulled on her hair. "I think I was spotted in town earlier. Troops notified the Inquisitors, they dispatched one of the most insufferable ones." She replied, turning to look at the unconscious Jedi hunter. "He doesn't even look peaceful when he sleeps."
"Hunter, we need to get going!" Echo's panicked voice shouts into the comm.
Malaina took a deep breath, scooting away from Tenth Brother as she looked up at Hunter. "I guess I'm free now?"
Hunter looked her over, then scanned the grounds that erupted into battle. "Look, I may not like you, but I'm not a dick. They send one guy, more will just keep coming. Come with us and we'll drop you off on another planet." He offered, holding a hand out to help her up.
Malaina raised an eyebrow at him, bewildered at his offer. "Wh-really? Are you sure?" She asked, raising a hand and grabbing his wrist. He grabs hers in return and pulls her to her feet.
"Get moving." He says in response, his long brown hair whipping around as he turned and began to lead the way over to the Marauder.
Malaina followed swiftly, not sparing another glance at Tenth Brother. He was always one of the dumber Inquisitors, she was lucky it was just him they had dispatched to retrieve her.
Echo and Wrecker were crouched behind crates, shooting up every few seconds to fire back at the white armored clones.
"We have worn out our welcome. We need to go now." Tech says into the comm, the clone still visible from the cockpit of the ship.
"We're here. Our stowaway's been compromised, she's sticking with us a little longer." Hunter replies, briefly meeting eyes with Malaina before jumping up from the crate the two of them had just been behind, pulling the trigger of his blaster and stunning a trooper.
Malaina was silently celebrating the fact that Hunter refrained from using her Imperial identity for the first time.
She's definitely made progress.
Though she still remained without her lightsaber or vibroblade. So Malaina went to her next choice, the Force. Peeking from the side of the crate, she lifted a crate and waved her hand across the squadron of clones, the heavy box full of equipment ripping through the men.
Wrecker cheered, fist shaking in the air. "I'm startin' ta like her!"
Malaina bit her lip, suppressing a smile as her and Hunter moved closer to the Marauder.
The Sergeant was occupied with other troopers, and Malaina spotted one moving closer to him without his knowledge.
Her breath hitched in her throat and she started running faster, jumping on top of a crate and then pushing off of it, swinging her bent leg around and colliding her knee with the bottom of the trooper's helmet, hitting his jaw while the white helmet flew off of his head.
By then Hunter had taken down the other three troopers and continued moving, but Malaina didn't miss the impressed glint in his eye when he glanced over his shoulder at her.
"Glad you could make it." Echo muttered to the two that had finally joined him and Wrecker behind the stack of crates.
Malaina nodded to him, leaning against the makeshift shield as she worked to catch her breath.
"What are we waiting for?" Hunter asked, wondering why Tech was now crouched down outside of the ship messing with something.
Echo stunned another trooper. "The clamp's still magnetized. The system's not responding." He explained.
Malaina raised an eyebrow, holding both hands out toward the clamp. Using the Force, she rips it off of the ship, out of the ground, and launches it across the shipyard at the approaching group of clones.
"It responded to that." Wrecker chimed, running up the steps of the Marauder. Echo and Tech follow, then Malaina and Hunter. But the giant clone realized they were still missing a person. "Wait. Omega's not back."
"Wrecker, she's not-" Hunter started, but was interrupted by the shouts of a much younger person than any of the people onboard the Marauder.
"Wait for me!" Omega hollered, running across the shipyard, just barely avoiding the blaster fire.
Malaina's eyes widened and she turned to Tech, who was too busy getting the ship started up to realize that the kid had abandoned Cut and Suu.
"Hi." She said to the intelligent man in the pilot's seat.
Tech blinked in confusion, but nodded back before continuing to work on getting them out of here. "Welcome back."
Hunter ran back out of the ship, making his way over to the blonde. He grabs her wrist and drags her along while sending stuns in the direction of the troopers.
"That plan failed." Malaina muttered, taking a seat behind Tech's. Echo sat in the copilot spot, quickly doing his part in the departure.
"What plan?" Tech asked, firing up the engines.
"Sending the kid away." Malaina replied, leaning sideways and looking over her shoulder just as Omega stepped into the Marauder, Hunter not too far in tow.
"Oh. Yes." Tech says, surprised as he realizes Omega in fact had found her way back. His eyebrows flinch in disbelief, but keeps his focus on pulling out of Saleucami now that everyone was packed inside of the Marauder.
The troopers continued firing at the ship as Tech pulled away, surely doing enough damage to make it a risk to be in space for too long without doing any repairs.
And once the blue light streaks of hyperspace was the image displayed outside of the windshield, everyone let out a breath they had been holding since the start of the Saleucami battle.
Malaina remained in the cockpit, assuming that Hunter wouldn't welcome her in the hull where he sat with Omega. She could hear their conversation, unable to tune it out since their voices were currently the only sounds in the Marauder.
"I know I made a mistake, and I have a lot to learn, but you don't have to get rid of me. I left Kamino with you." Omega said to the Sergeant, stepping closer to him. "This is where I wanna be."
Malaina stared at the ground, her eyes beginning to dry out from not blinking for so long.
Omega confused her so much. Why did she so badly want to be with these clones? Why did these clones risk their lives going back to Kamino for her? Who were these people?
"To tell you the truth, kid, I guess I've got a lot to learn too." Hunter responded, eyes softening at the girl. "If this is where you want to be, then this is where you'll stay."
Sorry for missing Thursday's update:(
I've been trying to wrap up school, go to all my doctor appointments, and the internet keeps going out. Hoping I'll keep up from now on though:)