"Bout time you di'kuts turned up and saved our sorry shebs."
He looked angry and relieved at the same time. Angry that his saviour, the female passenger he had been delegated to transport, had been treated so appallingly by his brothers and relieved that someone had finally followed their flight path and came to rescue them.
It had only been 5 lunar months and 22 moon rotations.
###
"Gentlemen, please allow me to introduce the Honourable Representative Skylar Gem, from Oriis."
The four clones were speechless as they looked at the obviously critically injured clone and the woman who had managed to keep him alive long enough to recover somewhat from his wounds.
"Please call me Gem, or Gemma," she announced not raising her eyes to any of them.
Her face was still dirty from the earlier scuttle and tear streaks could be seen lining her cheeks. Kix had placed a Bacta patch on the right side of her forehead and her left forearm where she had made contact with the ground earlier. She was tall, almost as tall as a clone, dark eyes and long dark hair. Dressed in a pair of black tight fitting pants, boots and a black short sleeved top she was unremarkable but for her tenacity and courage the past six months had bestowed upon her. She had been fiercely protective of her ward, now, at the prospect of reaching her destination minus her father and the pilot, she allowed herself the luxury of complete and utter exhaustion.
"Flight Lieutenant Reed. Co-pilot of the J-Class interceptor. We were on a diplomatic run to Corrie when we lost power and crash landed here. Mav, sorry CT-27-8973 died on impact. Gem's father died from injuries 4 days later. I thought I had it as well, but she managed to pull me through. Haven't got much use of my legs, yet, but there has been some feeling coming back recently. She thinks it is a bruised spinal cord. Should have been in a Bacta tank but we seemed to manage OK."
He gave a small smile and looked fondly at the female against the ship.
"She is amazing you know, never gave up on me, even on days when I begged her to put me out of my misery. She had to do things," his voice faltered a little, "well, you can imagine, that not even a brother should have to do. I have never met a brother that tough – not ever."
"That's because you're a fly boy, ner vod," smiled Hardcase, as he slapped the pilot on the shoulder.
He got up and wandered over to Gem and Kix and sat down next to her."Sorry for being such a, what do you call it, a dik'ut earlier," she said.
"It's di'kut and it's all good Ma'am, I'm glad Reed never showed you how to release the safety switch!" They both smiled at each other and then she began to stand up.
"I suppose you boys would like some caf?"
"Yes Ma'am," they all chimed."Well, you'll all have to wait until we get to Coruscant then," she laughed, the pretty sound startling the contrite Captain.
############################
Rex followed her inside the ship."My apologies Ma'am, for being so rough earlier," he spoke officially.
"Apology accepted Captain."
Rex took in the inside of the main cabin which had been refitted to accommodate the Lieutenant. He smiled to himself noticing how neat and tidy everything was. Orderly. He appreciated that. He also noted the sleeping arrangements. Reed had been placed near the hatch and she had a small area at the back of the cabin modestly hidden behind some crates. The crates immediately grabbed his attention. They were food crates with Mando'a written on them. His blood ran cold when he saw the Death Watch symbol hastily sprayed in black on the sides.
