𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 - 𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐬

𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ⸺ 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬.

0456 standard hours. Year 7963 (14 BBY)
Alderaanian Medical Station, Outer Rim.

⸺ VÆMAS.

⚡︎ ⁺. ◍ 。

    𝓓ID THE MANTIS get a paint job?

That was the first thought that crossed Væmas' mind as she lifted her eyelids. Unlike the past times she'd fainted — which, during the past few days, seriously started to pile up — she was not feeling any pain, just a little sore, and for once, she was feeling clean.

Everything around her was so white that the light almost hurt her. The second thought she had was the realization that this couldn't be the Mantis, and that thought alone woke her totally up.

Looking down on herself, she saw that she was lying in a bed, dressed in a surgical shirt and that a thin blanked had been put over her. In her arm was a needle linked to a pocket full of a translucent liquid. At the mere sight of the needle, her hand came to her neck, covered by a bacta patch.

She clasped a hand over the needle and pulled it out of her, biting out a wince of pain, before sitting on her bed to get a better look at her surroundings. The large panoramic window offered a direct view on the outside space, one that she had already seen dozens of times.

Impossible.

She was standing into a Republican medical station.

"What the..." She muttered for herself, getting up, before noticing another bed as she turned around. And on it was laying Cal, asleep, dressed as she was in a white shirt and pants. When the cold floor entered in contact with her feet, she noticed she was bare footed.

She took slow steps near Cal's bed and sighted, looking at his peaceful face, not knowing what to think, and not liking that despite everything that he'd done to her, she couldn't manage to hate him.

At this moment, he blinked and started to get back to consciousness, making Væmas back away from his bed, arms crossed. Maybe she couldn't hate him, but that didn't mean she could not pretend to.

His eyes opened, fluttering around the room until they found Væmas, who kept her face impassible. "Where are we?" He asked in a hoarse voice, sitting on the edge of the bed a rubbing his eyes.

"About time." She said keeping her voice strictly neutral. "I was hoping you could tell me."

She took a few steps back as Cal directed his eyes towards the perfusion and removed it as well, covering his bicep with his hand to stop the blood from dropping. As he got out of the bed, he made a gesture towards Væmas, who backed out instinctively, what he did not fail to see. His hand fell at his side as he chewed on his bottom lip. "Væmas, about what happened—"

Væmas was almost overwhelmed with relief when the door opened - even though they could still be in danger - interrupting this conversation which certainly was about to go places Væmas absolutely did not want to go.

She turned to the door, clenching her fists and instinctively putting her guard up. In the room entered a tall woman, dressed in white, her red hair put behind a tiara at her brow. Everything about her inspired regal elegance as she looked at them both with a benevolent look.

Væmas immediately recognized her, so surprised that her arms fell right there and then at her side, looking at the woman like she was a ghost. Which, in some ways, she was supposed to be. "Senator Mothma?" Væmas let out, barely believing what she was seeing.

"Good, you're awake." The senator said in an equal voice. "If you'll follow me, we have urgent matters to talk about."

Without even looking at Cal — or at least preventing herself from doing so —Væmas followed the woman out of the room, somewhat less convinced that this was some kind of trap. The Senator of Chandrila had always been loyal to the Republic, and would certainly be the last to befriend the Empire.