Impulse - Book 2 - Sergeant Hunter

[Chapter 13 - Blast from the Past]

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Stellia awoke to the whirring sound of the marauder flying through hyperspace. She slowly lifted herself from her bed, rubbing her bleary eyes. She found herself feeling light, as if a huge weight had been lifted from her chest. 

Slowly making her way down the ladder she was met with a quiet ship, Omega asleep in her room, Wrecker and Echo out cold on their bunks, and Tech tapping away at his datapad, too transfixed to notice her presence. She entered the cockpit to find a peacefully napping Hunter. She went to walk away, treading carefully so as to not disturb him, but she was halted when he called out her name.

"Stellia." his voice came out gravelly and tired.

Stellia felt her cheeks grow red, but as usual, she pushed the feeling away- "Sorry Hunter, I didn't mean to disturb you." 

"All good, I was already awake." Hunter tried to brush it off.

"Uh huh." Stellia didn't believe it for a second.

Stellia took her seat behind Hunter's, to which he rotated his seat to face her.

"How are you feeling?" he tried not to look concerned, failing miserably.

"Really good actually, that's probably the best sleep I've gotten since-" Stellia's breath hitched as she trailed off, cautious not to admit to her memory of that night. 

Hunter could hear her heart rate pick up, but knew that it was not his place to speak on it, so he simply reached out a hand, placing it firmly on her knee.

"It's good to see you're doing better. You need to take care of yourself you know, you need to worry about yourself before you worry about us." 

"Hypocrite." Stellia grumbled.

Hunter huffed out a chuckle- "Maybe I am. But I'm in charge of this group, which means it's my responsibility to look out for you all." 

Stellia looked away- "I'm sorry I caused so much trouble..." 

"It's all right." Hunter gave her knee a squeeze- "I accepted that you were gonna be the death of me that day on Nar Shaddaa." 

Stellia chuckled at that, the airy laugh bringing a warmth to Hunter's chest. He caught himself- he couldn't allow his feelings to continue, not when Stellia had made it clear that she was not in the right place for that. 

Stellia felt herself grow warmer at his touch, but trampled the feeling, as was becoming instinct. 

The tension in the room dissipated, and the pair continued to chatter away as if nothing had happened.

---

"It's not an exact fit." Tech commented as he fixed the vambrace onto Omega's wrist.

"I get my own comm device?" Omega exclaimed excitedly. 

"Technically, it was Crosshair's, but he doesn't appear to need it." Tech commented casually, the words stinging the group nonetheless.

"Echo, what's your position? Over." Omega spoke into the comm in a mock-serious tone. 

Echo cleared his throat- "It's not a toy, Omega." 

"Copy that." she spoke into the comm one last time before handing it to Tech too make some final adjustments- "Why are we going to Ord Mantell? I thought the plan was to lay low." 

"Not while a bounty hunter's after you. We need to find out why." Hunter explained from his spot at the navicomputer.

"I know an informant there named Cid who might be able to help." Echo added.