To Heal Poignancy ■ TECH - The Bad Batch ■

A Star to Palpatine

When Tech finished evaluating and treating Adla, she leaned her head back against the wall. She closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath before she slowly released it.

Tech's evaluation showed that the drugs were still in her system, but she was happy to report that her head stopped spinning and the world wasn't made up of blurry and unfocused blobs and swirls. Although, her chest felt heavy. It was heavy yet hollow all at once. She felt as though she had been run over by a podracer.

She was assigned to bed rest until it was all out of her system.

The bed dipped slightly beside her as if a small body sat on top of the cot.

"Are you okay?" a small voice asked.

Adla opened an eye to see Omega on her hands and knees peering worriedly up at her. The young woman gave the girl a tired smile that didn't reach anywhere near her eyes.

"I'm okay, Meg. No need to worry about me," she whispered.

Omega laid down next to the Naboo senator, still focused on her. "My brothers were very worried about you the entire trip. I've never seen Tech so quiet. He white-knuckled the wheel the entire time. Crosshair hid himself back here and barked at anyone who even breathed in his general direction. Wrecker was still, while Hunter zoned out the entire time," she snuggled closer to Adla. "It was really weird."

The young brunette lazily ran a hand through the little girl's hair. "I'm sorry for scaring you all," she mumbled.

"We're just glad you're okay, just, don't do that again, okay?" Omega lightly responded. Adla didn't know if she could promise that, though.

The two settled against one another, but the peace only lasted for a few seconds before Omega shot up. "Oh! I still have your com device!" The device was pulled out of her pocket. She handed it over to the older woman.

"Omega," Adla sat up, wincing as she rose, "give this to Tech. The last message is coordinates for you guys, so you can truly lay low."

Even though she told Omega to take the comlink, Adla stood up and made her way towards navigation and the cockpit.

"Senator," Hunter straightened in his seat when he noticed her. "What are you doing up?"

She held up the comlink. Her head pounded violently, to the point where she felt her eyes pulse.

"Coordinates," she murmured.

"We're headed to Ord Mantell. It's the safest place we know right now where you can recover," Hunter explained to her, not taking the comlink.

Adla shook her head but quickly regretted it. She held a hand up to her forehead and groaned lowly.

"No. This is safer," she whispered as she handed the comlink back to him.

"How do you know?" Hunter was hesitant to take the device.

But Adla couldn't speak anymore. She needed to rest. Her head hurt too much to explain.

"Trust," she waved him towards the cockpit, "go."

She turned around and made her way back to the cots. Crosshair's eyes followed her the entire trip back, in case she fell.

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Adla slept for a majority of the trip. She would only be awake for minutes at a time before she fell right back to sleep. The torture really messed with her, and the stress from her trip to Naboo and prior situations weighed down on her. When she awoke once more, she managed to keep herself up.