Chapter 21: War Mantle

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Still on the Havoc Marauder, during their long journey through hyperspace, Orla found herself meditating more than usual. Something was making her anxious, pacing up and down the ship and not allowing her to sit still. Mediation was the only way she knew how to lay out what was going on inside her head.

Her mediation started off listening through the ship; Omega's tools clanking against Gonky, Hunter's knife twisting around Hunter's twirling fingers, Wrecker's booming footsteps, Echo's gears from his droid parts or even the sound of Tech's goggles analyzing all kinds of data.

Her meditation started to wander outside the Marauder onto a planet she didn't instantly recognise. It wasn't long until she realized she wasn't in her own body, she was watching through someone else's eyes. Stood in a dark, cold forest, moonlight peaking through the tree branches. She started running, or whoever she was watching started running. They were being chased, and lights from torches started to creep towards her feet as the familiar shouting of voices grew louder. She went deeper into her meditation where she could feel the person's heartbeat and heavy breathing getting more and more tired. They were running for a while. Behind her, a pack of massiffs howled close behind her and Orla worried they were getting too close.

The person skidded, stopping at the edge of a cliff. They looked down and Orla could see their armour, it looked like clone armour but motified, she only got a quick glance until they started their run again.

They wouldn't stop looking behind them, checking every few seconds how close the stormtroopers were. They were eventually worn out and hid behind a large tree branch but the tracking massiffs found them anyway. Orla wasn't able to look where she wanted, only the perspective of whoever she was watching but they did place a glowing red beacon and continued running. She wasn't sure how long they could keep this up or how long she could keep in the mediation.

They only ran a couple more feet until a stun blast hit them which Orla felt, it didn't affect them too much but slowed them down exponentially where the stormtroopers had a good aim to fire another stun which this time knocked them down.

Orla woke as they hit the ground, almost forgetting she was even in the Marauder. She stepped down, unsure if she was still even in her own mind. She came down just in time as the Batch gathered around a transmission from Rex.

"Sorry to cut right to it, but I could use your help," Rex said.

"What do you need, Captain?" Hunter asked with great interest and worry. What kind of trouble could Rex be in that he needed them for help, knowing they were also having a hard time getting past the Empire?

"I have received a distress signal from a clone trooper, but I'm a bit tied up at the moment to retrieve him."

"You want us to recover a Reg?"

"You want us to recover a clone?" Orla asked, making the matter seem riskier.

"He's an old friend, and he's in trouble, I need you to get him out."

Omega looked like she would have said yes if she could.

"Out of what exactly," Hunter questioned, Rex wasn't giving much intel.

Rex seemed to have heard something and his whole body twitched, "Can't talk now sending you a signal. I'll be in touch," the transmission ended suddenly and the group were left to wonder over their options. With so little information the clones stumbled over what was the best plan.

"Well what should we do," Wrecker asked aloud and Orla felt their eyes on her.

"Why are you all looking at me?"

"Well you're the general," Wrecker shrugged as if it was that simple, that she could cast a spell and the clone would suddenly turn up out of danger.

"I'm not a general, I've only ever been a Jedi." She raised a brow.

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