Star Wars: Dar'Aliit

Chapter Four: One Step Forward

20 BBY  Republic Medical Station

I blink and the bright lights invade my senses. I don't remember lying down. I don't remember anything beyond Aftermath's hazy face and a couple of shouts. I suppose that was my fault. If memory serves, I collapsed.

Now I can't feel anything, though. The pain has fled from my body for numbness instead. My eyes scan the white ceilings and vaguely I can hear medics moving in the other rooms, patients crying out, and voices. I can hear the beep of a medical unit and looking over it all clicks into place.

I'm either back on base or back aboard the ship in the medbay. But I'm alone. The pristine floors are clinically haunting and even though they're shining white, I can't think of all the blood that's likely been spilled across them.

The door opens. I sit up and regret the motion instantly. The pain which had left me rushes back like a punch to the best. Gasping, I fall back.

Steps click across the floor and Aftermath's grimace appears under the lights. They leave a shimmer like a halo on his blonde hair.

I gasp down the pain and blink.

"Hey," Aftermath looks away. I think he's bothered by the pain in my eyes.

I can't figure out why he's here, though. Once I can breathe again, I manage to lift my head—that doesn't hurt—and work up the breath to ask. "Why'd you come?"

Aftermath shifts around. He's in uniform. He finally grabs one of the doctor's chairs and pulls it up beside the bed so he can sit. "Well," he folds his hands and leans forward so we're almost at eye level. "You came looking for me when you were half dead, so I remembered your face. I looked up your name. Kain?"

"Kian," I mutter.

"Oh," Aftermath rubs the back of his head, "sorry, Kian."

I nod.

Aftermath smiles. It wanes, and he lifts his hand. There's something familiar in it. I recognize the white oval from my blurry memories, and from the places I'd seen it before. A shoulder pauldron, nothing more. Just one.

Aftermath puts it on the bed beside my hand. "You were holding that, thought you'd want it back."

Moving slowly, I pick it up. Flipping the pauldron over I can see the inside and my stomach clamps. A while back, when we were on Kamino and back when—I don't want to finish the thought. Anyway, we found some laser cutters. Though we'd all be smart to etch our names on the inside of our shoulder pauldrons. The right one, specifically.

The inside of this one only has one poorly written name: Nyo.

Aftermath stares at it sideways, then he rocks back and leans into the chair. "Hey uh, Kian, I have a question for you."

I can't take my eyes off the name, but I nod.

"I know you're going to be recovering for a while, but I talked to Mer'en and the Captain and he talked to the Commander and well," Aftermath looks down at me. "I wanted you to join us. My squad, in the 212th."

I blink and break my stare. My gaze shifts to Aftermath who just cocks his head with a bit of a smile. He looks a bit like Haze, but with blond hair. Longer blonde hair. Haze was always smiling, though.

It takes blinking a few more times to clear the association so I can answer clearly. I think the painkillers and bacta are screwing with my head now.

"Why?" I echo an earlier question.

Aftermath rocks forward and stands up. He stands stiff, almost at attention, but he's still smiling. "I told you, I remembered your face. And well..."

He doesn't have to say it.