Chapter Text
‘There are friends and then, there are the so called friends. Okay, let’s call it what they truly are; frenemies whom you don’t really want to keep too close to you.’
“Cid doesn’t care about us. It’s been three rotations already and yet no ship has shown up for our rescue!” Omega complained loudly with the heat of the planet and their limited rations starting to grind even her not to mention she was bored to the core.
Just like Hunter and Wrecker she too had not really been useful in helping Tech fix the bike he had been tinkering on for the longest while, trying to scrape together a functioning transport of whatever they could find in the abandoned port.
Wrecker having ran out of his own rations first of them becoming clear to the others the man was suffering from fatigue but also boredom. As there really was nothing more to do having been through the abandoned outpost several times over and finding nothing of worth except the old hover bike and some parts for it Tech was trying to repair.
“Aww man, now I am starting to see things too!” Wrecker thought he had spotted an animal of sorts digging in the dirt behind some buildings close by as so far there really had been no other activity from any animals part from the stampede.
“What did you see?” Hunter asked him then having tried to meditate for the longest of whiles. But with his stomach growling loudly having shared some of his rations with Wrecker not wanting the big guy to keel over from hunger either. Not a good choice at all. Well, guess the meditation was a bust.
“Well,” Wrecker looked around the place not really sure if he was seeing things or not. “A tooka?”
“Where?” Omega immediately perked up and started to look around.
“Just…over there!” Wrecker was on his feet and running without any signs of being tired or malnourished at all. Sprinting after the feline like on fire! “Gotcha!” Catching the small critter of a thing without trouble.
Wrecker hauled the animal over to where they had set camp. The tooka half hanging from his hands as he set it down for the others too see.
“Awww. That’s so cute.” Omega was totally enthralled by the small animal.
Tech having taken a break from his efforts came to have a look-see of what the ruckus was all about. Seeing the animal sitting on its behind in the ground surrounded by the other three he adjusted his goggles and shook his head.
“What are you going to do with it? Tooka meat is not a recommended item for our dietary requirements.”
“Tech!” Omega’s eyes flew wide of Tech even suggestion they would eat the critter. “We’re not going to eat him.”
“Her.” Hunter pointed at the animal.
“Her.” Omega corrected. “She is too cute and cuddly for that.” She gave Tech a warning glare as if Tech was going to grill the poor critter on the spot.
“We’re not keeping her either.” Hunter knew they could not deal with pets especially now and certainly not on the ship either. Too much of a hassle he suspected. Besides, they were already low on rations as it was.
“Why not?” The whiny noise coming from Wrecker this time. Because he too like Omega found the feline cuddly and cute. The tooka seemingly surprised of having been surrounded by these bipedal creatures. But did not seem to mind the attention she was getting from Omega and Wrecker already petting her only eliciting loud purring sounds from the feline of the action. “She likes us. See!” Wrecker pointed at the cat.
Hunter rolled his eyes and sighed in frustration. It seemed that whatever battle he was in these days, especially those domestic ones which were more and more frequent, he was on the loosing end of it all. always.
“We have more pressing matters to attend to. Like getting the hover bike working and finding the Marauder.” Hunter reminded the others then. Tech having joined in the small circle of animal lovers giving their attention to the tooka.
“I should be finished soon enough. Just a few more calibrations and we can test it.” Tech told Hunter.
“That is great news!!” Hunter perked up finally. “Now all we need to figure out is which way to go!”
Omega was deep in thought while petting the critter still purring from all the attention she was getting.
“Gonky.” Omega chimed suddenly.
“Wot?” Hunter asked not following her train of thought.
“Gonky! We can track him.”
“Try to do a trace on his binary reference code!” Tech piped in immediately cashing on Omega’s idea. “Use this!” Giving Omega his datapad.
“On it!”
Omega was up and about in no time half startling the poor tooka as she immediately jumped onto Wrecker’s lap shivering there for a moment.
“There there, is all good.” Wrecker petted the feline calming her down.
“Sorry little one!” Omega told her as she rushed to the communications tower plugging in Tech’s device.
Tech went back to work finishing the repairs while Hunter and Wrecker waited for the two to complete their tasks. Hunter joining in keeping the feline company. Hunter’s hand finding its way to the soft fur of the critter without him even realising what he was doing. Ah! The magic of tookas!
“Is soothing.” Wrecker had a low register the purring cat having lulled him into a state of total calm.
“What is?” Hunter too finding the animal calming his nerves having been on the edge for most of the mission. Most likely long before taking on this retched mission on even.
“The tooka.”
“Yeah. Yeah she is.” Hunter’s tone was low too, feeling the hypnotic purr getting to him.
“Got it!” Omega roused the two from their rather sedate state.
Tech took a glance at the information on the small screen Omega had obtained. “Looks like Gonky is approximately one hundred kilometres away from our current location.”
“The Marauder must be there too!” Omega sounded positively elated.
“That is a correct assumption.” Tech complimented her with a hint of a smile.
“Alright people! Let’s get this show on the road then.” Hunter was already up and all ready to get going.
Tech and Hunter were testing the bike out which seemed to work just fine.
“We need to distribute our weight evenly.” Tech checked the readings on his pad.
“Wrecker in the middle and the rest of us on each end.” Hunter quickly made the calculations in his mind.
“Sounds about right.” Tech was in an agreement.
“Alright you two! Pack up your trash and let’s leave this dump behind us!” Hunter hollered to Omega and Wrecker.
Getting an agreeing nod from Tech as all of them were only too eager to get back on track and find their ship.
Meanwhile Wrecker and Omega having been sitting seemingly in silence while once again having been entertaining the tooka. The two of them quickly exchanged rather conspiratory glances and nodded to each other before getting their things and heading to the hover bike with the other two.