STEALTH and TRACK: BOOK ONE

C H A P T E R T W E N T Y-N I N E

FERN'S POV

Almost six hours had passed since we exited hyperspace and monitored the comms, waiting helplessly for anything leading to Omega. Hunter had followed my orders and was, at last, sleeping. Tech and I had tag-teamed the comms, while Echo watched for any signal changes. Eventually, my adrenaline ran dry, and my eyes were growing heavy by the minute.

"If you require an intermission," the intellectual clone offered quietly.

"I'm fine." I insisted, but then the small yawn I had been suppressing betrayed me. Tech's light-brown irises beamed when his prognosis was proven correct.

"Why don't you go check on Hunter?"

"Okay." I decided it wasn't worth arguing and rose from my seat. Before I left the cockpit, though, I placed a hand on his shoulder, who glanced up at me, confused. "Thank you for saving me, like five times, on Bracca. I'm going to end up owing you for the rest of my life if you keep this up." I scoffed softly.

"Fern, I believe you have failed to notice one of the key components of being part of a squad." Tech adjusted his goggles.

"What's that, Wired-Brain?"

"That you don't have to thank us every time you are saved." Echo chimed in from the left. "We look out for and protect one another. If any of us are in trouble, we all know that our squad will be there for us. When we find Omega, we are not expecting gratitude from her. We just want to reassure her that she's safe and sound with us. So you don't need to worry nor feel grateful. It's just the natural course of squad hood."

"Huh," I smiled. "I guess I forgot."

"Spent so much time alone," Echo amusingly slurred his words while his eyes swayed away before locking on mine. "I guess that's understandable."

"Thanks, you guys." I squeezed Tech's shoulder, then excused myself to head towards the back of the ship. I found Hunter laying flat on his back on the suspended cot that unfolded from the wall. It was the only one on board the Marauder, and it was only for when someone was injured, just to keep sleep spaces equal. I suppose Omega and I were the exception since we have our own room, curtesy of Wrecker.

Hunter's eyes were closed. His right hand rested on his chest, which rose and fell with a steady pace. Pulling up a crate, I sat parallel with his shoulder and took a moment to study his rugged face. Since I was settled on his left side, I was eye-level with his half-face skull tattoo. I noticed a stubbled shadow framing his jawline. His cheekbones and the bridge of his nose had earned some age lines over the years. Besides that and his hair was a few inches longer, he appeared exactly like the day I met him. The day we became partners...

Subconsciously, my hand slipped into his left one that laid by his side as I snuggled the whole right side of my face into the crook of my arm and drifted off into a much needed nap, where I dreamed about the first time I almost lost my best friend.

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The mission was reconnaissance only. There had been intel of the Separatists constructing a military base on the inhabited planet Dagobah. Hunter and I arrived with no interference in the bogged terrain. All was well in the beginning, and we were picking up nothing, not a single trace of the enemy. It seemed like they were only rumors.

Hunter and I trudged through the swamps, pushing away thick vines that dropped from tangled branches and encountering the occasional native wildlife. It was eerily quiet, with the exception of whistling and chirping of insects. Both Hunter and I were oblivious to what was lurking within the densel jungle.