And There Was Another✔️

Chapter 30: Snowblind

Seth kept trying to tell himself to quit being such a pushover and wake up as he stalked across the landing pads. There was a relative lull in the storm right now and he could actually see the base ahead of him without the assistance of the guidance poles, which were each topped with a brilliant blue light. But he was exhausted. He again tried telling himself that he needed to get over it. He'd had plenty of time to rest up on the ride over, and so far he'd just seen a battle and a run-in with a hostile species of bugs. For most soldiers it'd probably be a lot, but he'd been doing this crap for over a decade. That shouldn't even count as overtime.

But he knew that the cold was sapping his strength, and more than that, perhaps most importantly of all: he wasn't done healing. His body wasn't working properly, and he needed that damned rest. But rest wasn't an option right now. He was going to have to find some kind of alternative. But for now, he needed to find out what the big deal was. He and Nova finished crossing the landing pads and marched into the base. The place was still busy. They'd come into a side hangar where two dozen people were going over two land rovers with mounted blaster cannons in the back and a troop transport, all of them talking or working furiously, almost frantically. Sparks bled from where they fixed up the hulls or repaired machinery.

They crossed the bay and came to a hallway where a young soldier who looked barely out of his teens ran straight into Seth and bounced right off of him. He yelped in surprise, nearly fell over, bumped into someone else, apologized, then straightened up and looked back at Seth. "Are you Sergeant Kast?"

"Yes, I am," Seth replied.

"Oh thank the Force," he muttered. "Please, Staff Sergeant Fielding needs to speak with you. It's urgent. Follow me."

With that, he turned and hurried off down the large corridor, through the shifting mass of base personnel. Seth and Nova followed. They moved quickly through the base, threading their way through the crowd of soldiers, technicians, medics, and other random base personnel, until finally they came to an office. It was empty save for a desk and two chairs. The desk was huge and littered with datapads, empty cups and plates, and a random assortment of other things. Fielding sat behind it, staring with bloodshot, bleary eyes into a terminal. He waved them in without looking at them, eyes rapidly going back and forth, then typed something rapidly into the terminal for half a minute, and finally sat back in his chair and sighed heavily.

"I just got done reading the report. Thank you very much for the help. That kolto is going to literally save lives. And Kato and her work crew are getting those thermal units back online as we speak," he said.

"You're welcome. What's happening?" Seth replied.

"After she helped stabilize as many of the injured as she could, I asked Maya if she could and would be willing to use the Force to help us locate a supply shuttle that was shot down recently. She did. We have a location right now and we're putting together a strike team to get out there, grab the gear, and get back. We think Sith might be in the area, but we can't be sure. The weather is acting up bad in that region. I want you two leading the charge."

Seth nodded. "Okay. How many are coming with us?"

"A dozen, including Jensen, Spalding, and your ithorian technician. I want him to try and pull the power core from the ship if at all possible. We could really use it."

"All right. Where's Maya? And Seri?"

"Seri is helping distribute the kolto to those who need it. Maya...passed out."

"She what?" Nova asked, sitting forward.

"From what I gathered, she pushed herself past the point of exhaustion using the Force to heal people and help us find the downed shuttle," Fielding replied, a little sheepishly.