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Boost swore as they were all jostled, the gunship shuddering around them. Beside him, Bruise put a hand out to steady Comet. Commander Wolffe stood at the front of the ship, Sinker catching himself on the wall near him.
“We’re going down!” Runway called over the comms.
They all braced as well as they could, but were still rocked by the impact. Boost was thrown off his feet, catching himself on the wall right before the ship flipped, rolling once and sending him tumbling with it. He bit back a cry when his shoulder slammed into the floor. They were all flung forwards when the ship slid to a sudden, jarring halt, crashing into something.
He gave himself a moment to catch his breath before he was pushing himself up. He grit his teeth against another cry as pain shot down his arm when he put weight on it, quickly shifting to the other arm. He looked around to see his vode slowly getting up around him. Panels were warped and the wires behind them sparked bright in the dark.
Comet shook his head, bringing a hand to it as he sat up. He glanced up when Bruise’s hand appeared in front of him and took it, letting him haul him to his feet and steady him once he was there. Neither seemed too badly hurt.
“Wolffe!” Boost shot to his feet as Sinker’s shout. Dread pooled in his stomach when he saw the Commander’s armour smeared with blood. He let Bruise push him out of the way so he could kneel next to Wolffe.
“Did you see what happened?”
Sinker shook his head. “Not really. But part of the wall here crumpled in the crash, I think he got caught on it.”
Bruise nodded, his attention still on Wolffe. “Are you with us, Commander?”
The ship groaning around them snapped Boost into action. While Bruise and Sinker looked after Wolffe, he nudged Comet and gestured to the door above them. Comet glanced up and nodded. Together, they began to slowly pull it open. It got caught about halfway, but that would be more than enough to get them through.
He turned back to the others. “We’ve got to move.”
Sinker nodded and together with Bruise, they slowly began to pick Wolffe up. Boost ignored the way he cried out at the movement, instead crouching down with his hands cupped. Comet took the foothold and let him boost him up and out of the ship, Boost ignoring the way his shoulder protested fiercely. Once he gave the all clear, Sinker went next, easily vaulting out of the ship with Boost’s help.
Sinker and Comet reached down and carefully pulled Wolffe out when Bruise and Boost lifted him up to them. He seemed to have passed out, completely limp and silent. Once the Commander was out, he boosted Bruise, then jumped up himself, grabbing Comet’s outstretched hand and letting him hoist him the rest of the way out.
Once on top of the ship, he got a look at their surroundings. The ship was resting against a cliff face, leaving them in a large valley between the mountains with no cover. The droids must have been set up in the cliffs ready to ambush any Republic reinforcements. He hoped the other ships had better luck than them.
“Comet.” The young trooper straightened. Boost nodded down the valley. “Go see if you can spot any shelter or routes out of here. Preferably something defensible. We can’t stick around here, and we need somewhere to get a proper look at the Commander.”
Comet saluted and jogged away, following the cliff face.
With a long sigh, he activated his comm. “General, do you read us?”
There was some crackling from the comm before he heard the General’s voice. “I read you, Boost. What’s wrong?”
Boost looked over to where Bruise and Sinker had laid Wolffe down a safe distance from the ship. Bruise had his med scanner out while Sinker returned from checking on the pilot with a shake of his head. “We ran into a Separatist ambush and were shot down before we could reach our target. Most of us are alright, but Wolffe is down and Runway didn’t make it. We’re looking for somewhere to hunker down.”
There was more crackling in the comm before Plo’s voice came through again. “As soon as we are able, I will send a ship to collect you. Stay safe.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ll keep my tracker on.”
The call ended and he made his way over to the others, keeping an eye out for droids. If only so he didn’t have to look at the blood standing stark against Wolffe’s armour.
“How is he?”
Bruise sighed and shook his head. “Not great. A broken panel tore into his side and some of the wires shocked him. Not too badly, but not ideal to have on top of this. I gave him a hypo for the pain, but we need to move so I can treat him properly.”
Boost spotted Comet returning to them. “Alright, an evac will be here ASAP, and it looks like we might have somewhere to go. How’d you go, Comet?”
“There’s a few small caves along the cliff, but I found a smaller path down into the valley. Looks like an animal trail. Don’t know if the Seppies know about it, but it seems like a better option than the caves they’d expect us to take.”
Boost nodded. “Good man. Take a breather while we get the Commander ready to move.” Comet moved away to keep watch on the other side of the ship, lifting his helmet briefly to take a drink from his canteen. Boost addressed Bruise again. “Can we move him?”
“Yes. I’d love to have a stretcher or something to carry him on, but two of us can carry him without causing any more major damage.”
Bruise and Sinker carefully sat Wolffe up, slinging an arm over each of their shoulders, before slowly lifting him to his feet. Wolffe groaned at the jostling, head hanging low between them. Boost called Comet over, and they were moving.
Comet took point, leading them to his trail, while Boost took the rear. Both had their blasters ready. Sinker held one of Wolffe’s DC-17s in one hand while the other supported the Commander. Boost was glad they didn’t run into any droids. Hopefully they just assumed they were all killed in the crash, though part of him reasoned that they just came in to investigate from the other direction and would be on their tails as soon as they got to the ship and found them missing.
The trail Comet led them down did appear to be a small game trail, made by some medium sized creatures native to the area. It didn’t appear regularly used, especially by careless battle droids. Boost was careful to cover their track as they moved, keeping the path looking as undisturbed as possible, and doing his best to hide the start of the trail.
Wolffe remained mostly limp between the two troopers, making Boost’s efforts difficult as his feet dragged and stumbled along whenever he got them under him. Bruise would swear whenever Wolffe’s feet went out from under him again. He wanted to tell him to stop, but the Commander barely responded to anything he said, let alone followed orders. He was losing blood quickly, they needed to find shelter.
Comet finally came to a stop in front of them, looking off to the left of the trail. He pointed to a cave just off the trail. “That’ll do.”
They carefully picked their way over, loose rocks shifting under their feet and tumbling deeper into the valley, the thick clumps of grass being some of their best footholds. Comet and Boost ducked inside to check it out and called the others in when it was clear.
Wolffe groaned as he was settled on the ground, head lolling to the side and his chest moving with short, fast breaths. Bruise eased his helmet off, revealing a pale, sweaty face, eyes shut tight with pain. With Sinker’s help, Bruise pulled his chestplate off and cut away his blacks, revealing a jagged wound in his side, right where there was a gap in the armour. It looked like a piece of the wall had pierced into his side when they crashed and was torn through him as they were thrown around. His hands trembled as he tried to push the troopers away. Sinker caught one and held it, the other falling to his side with a groan.
Bruise had his medkit open beside him and Boost watched from the cave entrance where Comet was keeping watch while he was distracted, watching as he began cleaning the wound. Wolffe cried out with a flinch as soon as he touched the gash, Sinker moving to hold his shoulders and keep him still. Boost could hear his quiet reassurances as he tried to keep Wolffe calm, like he always did when a vod was hurt. When a good amount of the blood was cleaned away, Boost could see the electrical burns on his side from the sparking wires.
Bruise quickly set to work stitching Wolffe’s side back together. The Commander let out the occasional groan or quiet whine when he reached an area near the burns, but Sinker stayed by his side. Once he finished the final neat stitch, he applied a bacta patch and let the Commander rest. Boost saw him relax as the bacta began to do its job.
He turned his attention back to the outside of the cave, helping Comet keep watch while the other two watched over Wolffe. He glanced over when Sinker tapped his arm and gestured for him to head inside, taking his place on watch.
Inside the cave, Boost sat against the wall, watching Wolffe rest. Bruise appeared by his side, medkit open beside him. “How’s that shoulder, trooper?”
Boost winced when he automatically went to move it, sending pain shooting through it. He had forgotten about it completely while they had bigger things to worry about. Now that Wolffe was stable enough, Bruise’s attention, and his own, turned to it.
“Sore, now that you mention it. Landed on it in the crash.”
He sat patiently as Bruise examined it, pulling off his armour to see it properly and moving it gently. Boost didn’t realise how swollen it had gotten until he felt the relief of removing the armour. He didn’t cry out as Bruise moved it, but told him when it got too painful. The medic deduced that it wasn’t dislocated or broken, just very bruised, and gave him a sling to keep it stable until the evac arrived. He offered him a hypo, which he refused. While it was still, the pain was reduced to a dull throb, persistent, but he’d had worse.
Comet suddenly appeared in the cave with them and delivered a whispered report. “Got clankers heading down the trail. Sinker’s watching them but hopefully they just continue past.”
They silently hunkered down, Bruise staying near Wolffe, blasters ready. Boost caught a glimpse of Sinker lying flat at the cave entrance, using the patches of long grass and rocks for cover. As they sat and waited, he could hear the clanking footsteps getting closer, tinny voices echoing down into the valley.
“Hey, what’s that?” Boost swore, watching Sinker adjust himself minutely at that, ready to shoot. He heard a blaster shot, but didn’t see Sinker move. More shots followed, along with the shouts and screams of dying droids.
What sounded like a small skirmish came to a stop, and Sinker climbed to his feet, calling out. Boost sagged in relief when he heard the voices of vode call out in response. Soon, the cave was filled with another small team of brothers.
Wolffe didn’t stir as they carefully got him onto a stretcher and carried him out. They made their way back up the trail to the plateau they’d crashed on, another gunship waiting for them. They piled inside as another unit of droids approached, shouting and firing at the ship as it took off. A few of them took shots at the clankers before the doors closed, taking down a few.
Boost grabbed a handle with his good arm and revelled in the rumble of the gunship as it carried them back to the Hand of Justice.