Chapter Text
PLANET HOTH
“Captain… I think I can get the comm relay back up.” Sergeant Jarik was tired, his voice strained but his hands were steady as he removed the cover of the relay tower that propped up the injured trooper beside him. “Can you keep watch in case the pirates followed us?” A nervous glance toward the captain before he pulled his tools out of the pouch on his hip telegraphed the concern that he was trying to hide.
Next to him, blood oozing from under her once-pristine white armor in sluggish red rivulets, Captain Kha’Meshal sat in the snow. Crimson stained the winter-covered ground around her, movements slow as her helmet turned to watch as Jarik started working. The cold was like a hot knife sliding between her ribs with every breath but she focused everything she had on staying conscious. Every inhale was agony but she used the pain to remind herself she wasn’t dead yet. That she couldn’t give up just yet.
Sitting forward instead of leaning on the relay added a new layer of pain as whatever she got shot with was still stuck in her hip. Packing the wound with snow should help slow the bleeding, numb her a bit, and maybe even give relief to the burns. Blaster bolts cauterize but these two are different… Slug gun I think. Probably still stuck in me considering the pain. Slow breaths, the snow turning pink and then red as it became saturated beneath her glove. Adding more ice to the wound seemed to be helping though, the blood flow slowing while the skin became numbed.
Jarik said something, likely talking to himself, but his voice was muffled enough that Kha couldn’t tell what he had said. Leaning back against the ice coated metal of the relay tower she watched back the way they had come from while one hand held another pack of snow against the worst of her wounds.
Where did it all go wrong? Why did it end up like this… We made it through the ship, through all those pirates, past the imperials, and now we’re just going to die of the cold… A shaky breath and she pushed to her feet, a new stream of blood soaking through the under armor and down outside of her armored leg plates. Bright red against the white of the snow and her armor was hard to miss though she did her best to act normal. Stars danced in her vision but she still swung the rifle off her shoulder and watched him work.
“Captain! Wake up!” Jarik was shaking her, snow falling from her visor as she came to again. “Kha’meshal, can you hear me?” Panic in his voice was sharp enough to cut through the fog clouding her mind.
“Ya…” Agony flared through her body, the stars blinding as he jostled her. “I passed out … Blood loss is worse than I thought.” With his help she stood again, the left side of her leg frosted over and dark. The blood wasn’t the worst part either. Somewhere inside her lower left side the slug shots were tiny suns of frostburn, the hole in her body glove unable to protect her from Hoth’s extreme cold. “Comm relay?”
Jarik shook his head as he turned to watch as early signs of sunset colored the horizon. “Nothing but static. I think the other relays are down as well.” Kha could hear the worry in his voice and remembered very clearly the statistics of surviving overnight in the snowscape of Hoth.
Another deep breath and she picks up her rifle out of the snow, brushing her weapon off before shouldering it. “Let’s go. Road should be that way.” Each step sent spines of barbed agony through her leg, her hip, into her side but staying here wasn’t an option. “If we keep moving we’ll reach the base not too long after sundown.” Jarik kept up with her, watching the uneasy gait of the captain but their speed wasn’t going to be enough to make it the distance and he knew it.
Trudging through the snow was difficult, muscles burning as the HUD on her helmet warned of dropping temperatures. If it wasn’t for the steady monologue coming from Jarik, the man a nervous talker, Kha would have lost consciousness again. As it was they had been walking for almost an hour when everything went black again. She could still hear but her body wouldn’t move, her vision gone, and except for the sensation of Jarik dragging her she could have been floating.
How did this go so wrong …
BT-7 THUNDERCLAP
“Kha, you’re ante. What do you have left?” Jorgan sat in just pants instead of the more distinguished officer’s uniform with his sabacc cards fanned out and a cocky grin on his face. As a cathar his exposed torso was covered in a very short fur which likely helped keep him warm. “What about you Tanno? Anything left for the pot?”
The weequay next to him, dressed down to just his undergarments showing off a muscular form with old stab wounds maring the tough leather skin of his race. Tanno gave a grunt before folding his own cards closed, sitting back in his chair almost sulking. “At least you’re in the lead…”
Scowling at the cards in her hand, Captain Kha’Meshal was down to just a thin tank top and small shorts, the captain’s uniform currently folded on the table along with the other two uniforms. “I’m down to my ink at this point...“ Where her other two crewmates had only a few scars despite their military careers and rough lives Kha was covered in a thin network of scars over most of her body, a majority of them covering her left side. Being a Dathomirian Zabrak Kha also had intricate racial tattoos that helped cover the scars or at least disguise them.
On a couch nearby, reading a book instead of participating in the ridiculous game, Dorne just shook her head. “Rules were established early on, there is no gambling your underclothes Captain.” Turning a page without even looking up, the sergeant chuckled. “Why do you insist on playing this game when you always lose…”
“You know me, I always get lucky when it’s important!” Laughing as Dorne shakes her at Kha’s comment the holocomm behind the sabbac players chimed to interrupt the banter.
As Dorne was the only one dressed in her uniform she set the book aside to check the communications readout. “Captain, it’s General Garza.”
“Oh shit… Answer it. She’s going to be upset but at least I can’t get any more dressed down then I am now…” Kha stood, her winning hand set down on the table face up with a chuckle as her and the squad lined up.
“Captain, I see I’m interrupting another legendary card game. I hope you’re sober, your squad is needed on Hoth immediately. We have a rare opportunity and Havoc squad needs your backup. Your team is the closest so you’re going in.”
A salute with a wry grin, Kha nods at the assignment. “Understood General. I’ll need to tell Asahka I’m being reassigned. We were supposed to go on some diplomatic mission near the end of my leave.”
“Very well, but this mission is top secret, even the destination. The most you are authorized to tell her is this should only take a day. Now get moving. I need you on that planet immediately. General Garza out.” The holocomm shut down and the crew scattered to dress and prepare the ship for hyperspace.
Typing in the comm channel for Asahka’s ship, Kha waited for the cue to leave her message. “Asahka, leave got cut short. I’m being deployed on a top secret mission. Can’t give you any details but Garza says this will only be a day. Expect my report in twenty-four hours and I’ll make sure to wear proper clothes for that one. And yes. I won.”
Somewhere in the back Jorgen barked out a laugh. “Barely! Now get geared up Captain.” Kha just laughs back as she shuts down the comm.