Chapter 3: Archaic

[Mara 29]

Kaden said a few greetings to the children and those others who had remembered him from just a few days prior. But then when they went back in to be with their families and friends, he remained outside, waiting for the rest of his team to get together and thinking about what was up ahead.

Going on a completely ground-based mission was something Kaden wasn't used to, and he wasn't sure how helpful he would be. Recon was more Artie's style. But he would try, no, do his best to help out the others on his team. He had no other options left.

[Bad furday 57]

"How do you mean?" asked Jya, arching an eyebrow. The look on her face was one of amusement.

[Pandora 77]

"Who does your commanding officer report to, where's he stationed? Let's start there." He looked at his chrono again. He was going to have to send that faulty report. Where could he hide his parents? Deign started to get aggitated again. "I just need something to feed the Diktat. He's getting ridiculous, Layla. It's like he's got it into his head that he can single-handedly reclaim the galaxy or something and I'm running out of informants, which he perceives as failure on my part." He seated himself on the cot next to her. "And you know how I feel about failure."

[Rogue 4]

Layla frowned, looking over to him. She was trying to think of some type of information that she could give to him that wouldn't harm her friends or the greater war effort. She knew how this worked. She needed to give him enough information to satisfy him without giving up too much to make herself unneeded. Her livelihood right now depended on him needing her. "If I give you information, Deign...I need to know that you're going to take care of me."

[Ender 8]

"How do you mean?" asked Jya, arching an eyebrow. The look on her face was one of amusement.

Jaim grinned. "When we comm the squad to let them know we're in I'll make sure we're tuned to everyone's comlinks, including Arlan's. I'll turn up the input so that it'll pick up background, and, well, I think you get the idea."

The ship beeped at him. "That's how you do it, Corin! We're in, a hangar in Tyrena out of the way enough so no one's gonna notice us coming in." He set the vector and entered Corellia's atmosphere.

[Pandora 77]

Finally! She was going to give him something! Deign was careful to keep his overall relief in check.

"Of course, Layla. I told you before I really don't want to hurt you, and I meant it." Almost as an afterthought, he laid a hand over one of hers. "What can you tell me?"

[Rogue 4]

The Zeltron's hand twitched, just slightly beneath his, as if it possessed an automatic need to get away. Then Layla breathed and she relaxed a little, running her other hand back through her red locks. She couldn't believe what she was about to say. "I can give you some information...about my squadron."

[Drake 53]

Once they had finished offloading the ship, Takeshi sealed it up and then found the dockmaster droid to discuss terms of leasing the berth. Once finished, he paid the droid for a week's lease then returned with a rental hoversled. The three men loaded the sled then continued through the docking wing to the main spaceport terminal.

They spent several minutes passing through customs. Tak, using his innate ability to read people, spotted a particularly bored and seedy-looking security guard. The man wore the Imperial-style uniform of the PSS.

Takeshi approached him. "Afternoon, officer."

"Afternoon," said the guard, looking up. "Can I help you?" he asked, sounding half-annoyed that anyone would be talking to him.

"Actually, you can," said Tak. "You see, my companions and I have just gotten back from a gambling trip in Hutt Space. We'd rather not have to pay the duty taxes on our winnings but...we'd be willing to part with a little of it if you'd be so kind as to...turn a blind eye as we walk past." To emphasize his point, a credit chip appeared in his hand. It was marked with a denomination of 200 credits. Probably more than the guard would make this week.

The guard stood up and stepped in close to Tak, taking the chip and pocketing it. "I'm afraid I can't accept bribes. However, I personally checked your luggage, due to the sensitive equipment inside and granted you clearance." He handed Takeshi a green slip of flimsi which read PSS CLEARED. "Have a wonderful day."

"And you," said Tak. He waved the other two men forward with the hoversled and they passed the suddenly pleasant-looking guard.

Soon, they were out of the spaceport and hailing a taxi. Their destination would be a hotel that was located near the business district on this side of Tyrena.

[Princess 35]

Nima supervised the droids unpacking the medical equipment and put it in a room that Brier set aside in case any of the squad needed medical attention. She sat in the chair in the corner next to the window in the room and pulled out her datapad. Reluctantly, she pulled up Captain Tunon's file and thought back to their earlier conversation about nightmares.

Nima nodded. "I see Captain. I don't exactly have anything that can fix the nightmares and I don't like the idea of giving you anything mood suppressing in the middle of a combat mission, it seems a bit risky since we don't know how you'll react to them, everyone react a bit differently. And I don't think that I packed any for this mission." She paused to think. "When did the nightmares start? After Layla got kidnapped? Or earlier, when Szen was injured?"

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric thought about it.

I don't want to let her know they're the same nightmares I was having back when I passed out during that sim run months ago. Or that I've been having them since before the formation of the squadron.

"I guess a few weeks after the capture of the Revenant. It was a stressful period. My first real command and all, you know? Atzena and Jareth's deaths didn't help any, and neither did Nat's injuries during the mission." He put all his years of Intelligence work behind the lie. "So should I ask you again when we get back to Coruscant?"

[Princess 35]

Nima thought for a minute. He's keeping something from me, I can tell, but he's my commanding officer and I'm bound to help him by my oaths as a physician. "I can give you something stronger when we get back to Coruscant but for now, I did bring some sleeping pills with me for this mission, just mild ones though, can't have everyone be walking zombies you know. Let me go get some out of my bag, and I'll give you a stim hypo just in case you take a pill and have to face some action. It should help you get into a deeper sleep where the nightmares shouldn't affect you. It's the best I can do here."

She disappeared down the hall for a minute and came back with a small bottle of pills and a hypo. "Take one pill before you go to sleep. Don't take any more, they take a bit of time to work, however they'll let you sleep, and they shouldn't leave you feeling like a zombie unless you need to wake quickly. We'll try to do more when we get back to HQ."

Nima broke out of the memory of her conversation with Captain Tunon and scowled at her datapad. What could she write that wouldn't doom him, but she had to document this in his chart somehow. She switched it over to freehand mode and grabbed a stylus. Prescribed mild sleeping pill to Captain Tunon. Patient appeared haggard like he hasn't been sleeping well for a while, suspect further underlying causes than just recent stress. Will follow up upon return to Coruscant.

She studied the datapad, it still didn't seem right. Luckily, this file stayed with her and wasn't part of the readiness report that she had to file at times with HQ regarding the health of the squadron. Apparently they considered Revenant Squadron a high stress squadron, so they got watched a little closer.

Nima brought up Szen's file next. Flight Officer Szen Braenen status post reconstructive surgery. Reaction times within performance ranges for starfighter duty. Small lag in vision with cybernetic eye, expect that to be resolved within days as patient's nerves adjust. Cybernetic arm satisfactory, especially within close contact. Will monitor patient for signs of post traumatic stress disorder associated with loss of limbs and near death experience, but patient seems to be adjusting well.

One last file, Nima scowled. This was the one part she hated about being a doctor, the paperwork. Lieutenant Takeshi Beskar. After recent attack at Atalgak Base and capture of Flight Officer Layla Nasrin, Lieutenant Beskar received sleeping pill from med-droid. Lack of ability to sleep is consistent with high stress situation. No further treatment recommended at this time.

Nima scowled at her datapad again, finger hovering over the save button when there was a knock at the door.

[Rogue 4]

Nat found himself nearly tripping over kids running down the hall as he made his way downstairs to check on Nima. Kids were something that he wasn't used to being around. He didn't dislike them, he just wasn't very good with them, and so he was trying to avoid Brier's little herd of younglings to no avail. When he finally made it to Nima's door he knocked before entering. "Have everything all set up I hope." He said, skipping past the formalities. He was still very annoyed from the night before. "And I see you're catching up on all the paperwork you should have done last night when you were out celebrating your squadronmate's capture."

[Princess 35]

She stiffened then just got mad. "Actually, if you must know, this is all stuff that has happened since we departed Coruscant this morning. And for your information, I was not celebrating the capture of my friend. Has it ever occurred to you Natri'amor that I'm scared to death of what Layla's going to be like when we get her back? That this squadron is becoming family to me, as it should, and that it terrifies me to have to put you all back together again. That I'm scared that I'm not going to be able to save someone that I care about some day. And I could have chosen to drug myself into sleep like some other members of this squadron, but instead, I chose to go out, have a couple of drinks and try to escape the nightmares because a hangover is a lot less painful to me than having to escape the haze of sleeping pills. I can't stop these damn nightmares of what Layla might be like when we get her back! I can't be the detatched doctor when it's my friends that are suffering, I suffer with them. Besides, you're one to talk, you reeked of alcohol when we got out last night." Nima glared at Nat.

[Rogue 4]

"I had two beers, not quite enough for a hangover, or even a buzz as I was nursing them for quite some time, Officer Secura." Nat retorted, crossing his strong arms over his chest. "Furthermore you had an order from your superior officer to head back to base, and when I checked in last night around one in the morning you still hadn't returned."

"This isn't a game. It's not some big elaborate prank on the Empire. We're not going to sit down five years from now and laugh about this war with the 181st over beers. We're an elite starfighter and insertion unit, and this is a war, Nima. It's not a game. People are getting injured, captured, dying. It's not something that you can escape, and it's not something that you can change."

[Princess 35]

"No really. I hadn't thought of this as a game. Besides, the order was to finish packing my medical supplies, which was already done. I took care of my responsibilities before I even left the base. I take my job as a physician seriously. War isn't hell. War is war and Hell is hell. And of the two, war is worse. Excuse me for trying to forget for a brief time that I may yet again have to be elbow deep in a member of this squadron's blood. That it may be my skills that are necessary to keep them alive to fight again. I'd like to see you shoulder that responsibility. It's much easier to judge than to deal with it yourself, Sir."

[Rogue 4]

Nat blinked his yellow eyes, turning back to her. "Are you serious? Do you really think that because you're the medic you're the only one who has to shoulder that responsibility?"

He leaned on the table, looking across at her. "Everything I do is to make sure that we don't have to bring another Jareth, or Atzena back to Coruscant in a body bag. Every time I scold you guys, everytime I 'get on your case' every time I run a training sim---everything I do in this squadron is to ensure that I don't have to comm home to your families and prepare for a funeral! So don't you dare stand there and act like I don't understand. I was there when Jareth died. I had to explain to his family how he was ripped apart by Stouker. I had to tell Atzena's family about how her sacrifice allowed the rest of us to live. I don't want to call Adarra's mother, or the Vaar family, or your family and explain to them that you were shot down in combat, or that you fought valiantly to the end. I want you all to be able to go home and tell your families yourself that you fought bravely, and lived to see another day. That's why I do what I do. And that's why I'm always pushing all of you to focus, to do your best, and to prepare yourselves for the worst. Because it will happen. And a hangover won't help you get through it."

Edited July 12, 2008 by Rogue

[Princess 35]

"Right, so that makes it okay for you to go out and have a drink or two, but because I'm just a lowly flight officer I can't have a drink or two because apparently I don't know my own limits!" Nima's eyes flashed angrily. "You may be the one that has to handle the notifications of family members, but when we're out on a mission, I'm the one that signs the death certificate. I'm the one trying to keep death away if someone does get injured. We're a unique squadron Lieutenant, which means that we don't necessarily act like other squadrons. Yes, there's a certain level of discipline to be maintained, but sometimes, just sometimes, the stress of our situation has to be let out. We're all adults and we all have problems that we have to deal with. Do you really want to know how close you came to having to notify Szen's family that she didn't make it? Do you want to know all about that terrifying flight when Brier was rushing us to the nearest medical center so that I could operate? I wash and wash and wash, and I can't get the blood of those that I've taken care of off of me. Every time that I put someone back together, it changes me and I have to wonder who will be next. Or if it will be me. I wonder when my number is about to come up. I could have accepted a post at some safe base hospital, lounging around until wounded come in, but I chose to be in active duty with a covert ops starfighter squadron. I'm doing my best to take the war to the Empire so that we can end this stupid war and our future generations can live in peace!"

[Rogue 4]

"I'm not trying to lessen what you're doing here. Frotz, you can be so frustrating sometimes!" Nat straightened, crossed his arms and looked at her. "The point here is that you disobeyed an order from Lieutenant Beskar--Skirata, whatever his name is nowadays. You need to learn to obey orders. Whether or not you agree with my methods, the chain of command does exist, within and outiside of combat."

He turned around, walking to the door, and his lekku curled in distaste with the whole conversation. "You work to preserve the injured, Nima. I work to make sure that they aren't injured in the first place. Maybe a little responsibility on everyone's part will make you sleep easier."

And with that he opened the door and headed outside into the hall.

[Mara 29]

Having enough of staring at the horizon and thinking, Kaden turned and headed back towards the house proper, looking for his team members--Atuarre, Szen and the Captain.

[Vergere 1]

Brier was idly reclining back against a wall outside of where Nima had set up the makeshift hospital. Brier, however, was inspecting her nails as Nat walked out of the room, looking rather uninterested, minus the laughter present only in her eyes. Dryly, "Well, that seemed to go well. Perhaps next time even the Outer Rim could tune into the holodrama." She smiled kindly and pushed herself away from the wall, beginning to walk casually away from the hospital and motioning to Nat that he follow before clasping her hands behind her back. "Have you found a room for yourself yet, Lieutenant Riamor?"

[Rogue 4]

"No, I have not." Nat was frowning deeply as he turned to follow Brier. "Were we really that loud?"

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric gathered his team.

"First thing's first, we've got to get our gear over to the motel. Szen, you're with me. Atuarre and Kaden, you head to the motel by a different route. Be on the lookout for anyone suspicious watching you. We'll meet you there."

He waved to Brier and Nat, signaling that he was leaving, and slipped out the door with Szen.

Edited July 12, 2008 by Chickenman

[Vergere 1]

Brier chuckled and shook her head. Her voice soft, "No, not that bad." She waved at Aeric as she and Nat passed him, acknowledging his leaving, and kept walking. "Would you like me to show you some rooms, see if any of them suit your interests?" She raised an eyebrow at Nat, her features still quietly amused.

[Rogue 4]

"Any room is fine," Nat said, trying to be polite. He thought it might have been rude to request a room as far away from Nima or the kids as possible. He was also very relieved that nobody else had heard the arguement he'd just had with the group's medic. "You have a lovely home, Captain."

[Vergere 1]

Brier smiled softly and bowed her head in acknowledgment. "Thank you. It's the result of many generations of my adopted family." She looked over at him again as she walked. "Any room may be fine, but we have lots to choose from. And you are a guest here, Lt. Riamor. Your wish is my command, especially since you have to deal with me, and your lovely medic, in what I'm sure you two find to be the most boring assignments we can be given." Brier still looked amused.