And There Was Another✔️

Chapter 39: Post Traumatic

Seth gradually became aware of the soft hum of power, and the quiet respiration of filtered oxygen being pumped into his environment.

He also became aware of an actual person's respiration as well, nearby.

And pain. There was a lot of pain. Something on his face, too. Over his eye.

He opened his eyes.

Definitely something over his eye, his left eye, completely covering it.

"What happened?" he asked. Everything hurt, but his head really hurt. His face, mainly, but he had a killer headache.

He heard footsteps, and Nova suddenly appeared in his field of vision. He was aware enough that he knew he was in the onboard infirmary, laying on his back. He frowned as he saw bruising on her neck, like someone had grabbed her there-

The Mandalorian.

Everything snapped harshly into focus.

"We're safe," she said, probably reading the anxiety on his face. "Don't worry. He's dead. For sure. And he was alone. And you're going to be disappointed."

"Why?" he asked hesitantly.

"He had a datapad on him. A journal. He was indeed a Mandalorian. Some crazy ass bastard who had become obsessed with just...hunting. Everything. If his log is to be believed, he's got a long list of confirmed kills, in other places. All after the Mandalorian Wars. But get this, one of his confirmed kills here is the damned terentatek."

"You're sure?" he asked.

"Yes. He had a map, the thing was barely a klik away, in a cave. Kato and Maya and I went out to find it about two hours ago. It's dead in its cave. Confirmed."

"Oh man, I'm so disappointed that I don't also have to fight a damned terentatek," Seth muttered, relaxing.

"Jensen is actually pretty annoyed. He got screwed out of two of them now."

"Well, he can get the next one," Seth replied.

"He can't," Nova said.

Now he stiffened up again. "What? Why not?"

"Relax. The Republic ship got here and new orders came down after we explained the situation to them. They're short staffed, so they can barely afford to dispatch a skeleton crew as it is. So they're ordering Kato and Jensen to stay. They tried to order you to stay, but Maya put a stop to that very quickly."

"Crap," he muttered.

"Yeah." She smirked. "You got in good with Kato, didn't you?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Well, at least you got to enjoy her company once."

He sighed and nodded. "How is everyone?"

"Yex and Seri are unhurt. Maya is passed out again. She used the Force to stabilize us, and Seri did her best to deal with the rest. We're lucky that it's going to take four days to get to our next destination, which I believe is our final one. I'm hoping we'll be able to heal up and actually sleep for that duration. Jensen made it away pretty unscathed, but Kato took a few bad injuries. She'll be laid up for a little bit in the infirmary. Baxton is...dead. Unfortunately. But Mills and Thompson are okay. Honestly you and I got it the worst. Especially you. I had to convince Seri not to tie you to your bed to keep you from getting up when you woke up..."

"How long have I been down?" he asked.

"Close to ten hours. Maya says your eye will need more Force healing when she's had the opportunity to recharge a little. It's pretty messed up. So is your face. He like...beat the shit out of you. You look like you were on the end of a really bad ass-kicking."