Healer's Hands

On The Wings of Keeradaks

Althea stood by the door gripping her blaster nervously. Tech was trying to unhook Echo from the machines, and Rex sat by his friend. The medic had never seen something so brutal before, despite fighting in this war for a long time. Outside, blaster fire raged and General Skywalker came running in. He nodded to Althea and made his way over to Tech. "Situation's almost under control out there. How's it going in here?"

"I'm still trying to decrypt Echo's cerebral interface." Tech said. "Until I do, we cannot disconnect him from this computer system."

Althea moved over to them, her medical instincts itching to help Echo. "How is he, Rex?"

Rex stood. His eyes were solemn as he spoke. "He's too weak to walk. Very disoriented. Doesn't even remember how he got here. He remembers being at the Citadel, but that's about it."

"Any word on the extraction squad?" Skywalker asked.

"We called it in, but no word back." Rex answered. By the door, Wrecker slammed a droid into the ground and threw it back.

Skywalker sighed. "Well, that's no surprise. We knew when we got into this we'd be on our own."

By the door, Wrecker, Hunter, and Crosshair shot at the droids as the closed the door. "It's gonna get more difficult to get out of here." Said Hunter. "There are several squads of droids closing in." As he spoke the droids outside were trying to pry open the door and one even got it's head in. But Wrecker grabbed it and ripped it off, giving Hunter and Crosshair time to weld the doors shut.

Crosshair pulled down his range finder with the thermal lens. "Enemy approaching. Droids...lots of 'em."

"How long can you hold them off?" Skywalker asked.

Hunter looked back at him. "How long do you need?"

Skywalker turned to the clone at the controls. "Tech, how much longer?" His voice was thick with urgency.

Tech continued to work furiously at the controls. "Not yet. I need more time."

Wrecker came over, taking off his helmet and nudging Althea in the shoulder. She gave him a weak smile before turning back to Echo and Rex.

Meanwhile, Hunter and Crosshair had finished the first door, but something began to cut a circle in it from the other side. They ran back and Hunter slammed his fist into the controls to close the second door before welding it shut with Crosshair.

Tech pressed one last button and turned back to the others. He took off his helmet. "I've got it. We can unplug him now."

Rex looked to Echo, who turned around and leaned against the panel. The Captain pulled out the cables, Echo flinching with each tug until he collapsed onto the floor. "Rex?" He said before coughing.

Rex crouched down to his level. "What is it?"

Echo coughed again. "I got a big headache." He gave his friend a pained smile.

Rex smiled softly. "Better to feel something than nothing, old buddy."

General Skywalker interrupted the nice moment. "It's a touching reunion, guys, but we need to get out of here now."

"There's an exhaust vent that leads to the cooling systems right there." Echo pointed weakly to a hatch above them with his good hand.

Hunter and Crosshair ran over. "They've breached the front door." Said the Sergeant. "It won't be long before they're through the second."

Echo stood, using the control panel as support. He plugged his scomp arm into the outlet, twisting it around a bit before opening the hatch above them. "That should get it open."