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“You’re safe,” Cere told him. “For now. ”
Cal almost scoffed. Good to know. But still, her warning - her threat? - was hardly a surprise; he hadn’t been safe in five years so why should this be any different?
He watched as she turned away, and then limped through the ship towards where she’d said he should rest. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he was pretty sure every single part of him hurt, though ‘hurt’ was probably too weak a word. ‘Hurt’ was for when you fell two stories scrapping a Venator. This was so much worse than that. This was what you felt when you slid down and crashed into too many things to count, and then fought an Inquisitor on top of that. ‘Searing agony’ might be a better way to describe how he felt, but there was no use complaining about it.
He made note of a small kitchen area as he made his way towards the engine room. He’d been hungry earlier, now he just felt nauseous, which was probably a good thing; he might be able to steal some small scraps of food later, when Cere and Greez weren’t looking, but there was no chance of doing so now.
Cal wondered who they were, if they really were trying to restore the Jedi Order as they claimed, or if they were bounty hunters. As exhaustion welled over him, slowly replacing the adrenaline that jittered through his veins, he hoped that was something he could deal with in the morning.
Before he stepped through into the engine room, where he could see a low, thin cot had been laid out for him, he took a quick stop off in the refresher - as long as he was quick enough, he doubted they would find this suspicious, or at least he hoped they wouldn't.
Once the door had closed behind him, he quickly got to work, rifling through the cupboards in search of any medical supplies he would be able to get away with using. If he could just take a small amount, too small for either Greez or Cere to notice, then that would be better than nothing, something to help the searing ache in his limbs or the screaming pain that was starting to make itself known in his ribs.
Eventually, he let his head thunk against the sink as he gave up his search. There was nothing, absolutely nothing stashed anywhere in the refresher. Who the hell flew dangerous missions like this and didn’t keep medical supplies around? He grit his teeth as he forced back tears of frustration - there was no use crying about it, it would only dehydrate him further and this fresher had a sonic sink instead of a water one like on Bracca. Also he was pretty sure, with everything that had happened today, that if he started he wouldn’t stop.
There wasn’t any reason not to keep medical supplies here, no reason except the one he’d already suspected. Cere and Greez hadn’t offered him any bacta even though they must have known he was injured, because he wasn’t worth any to them. In fact, they had actually removed their supplies from here to make sure that he didn’t take any. Well, it was a wise move and showed they weren’t wrong about him - he was a thief.
He forced himself to his feet, almost screaming as the pain in his ribs worsened and his head seemed to spin. He caught himself on the wall, collapsing here because he’d had a dizzy spell wouldn't help matters. Then, he made himself stumble out of the refresher and into the engine room.
Collapsing onto the cot didn’t help much, in fact he bit into his lip to keep himself from making any sound, but at least it was a bed. Despite being small and rock-hard, he knew it was a far better sleeping arrangement than he’d had for half his time on Bracca, where he’d had to make do with a corner to curl up in, somewhere he hoped wouldn’t leak in the rain.
There was a part of him that thought he would never be able to sleep, not with the terror from the chase (and from being on this new ship), the grief from losing Prauf, the only person who he thought had truly cared for him on Bracca, and the throbbing that seemed to emanate from all parts of his body, but most especially his side. But the exhaustion was too much, and, despite everything, he found himself plunged into a nightmarish sleep.