FERN'S POV
"Guess who's back?" I marched onto the Marauder and popped into the cockpit with a dramatic entrance. Wrecker and Omega were sitting opposite of each other with Gonky the Droid in between. On his flat top was a piece game, in which very little progress seemed to have been made. Omega, upon me breaking the silence, hopped from her seat and rushed over to me with those round, brown eyes widened. "Where are the others?"
"We discovered a massive Imperial military base integrally-constructed into the mountain's core. Hunter, Tech, and Echo are infiltrating it as we speak. We believe they are holding CC-5576 there, though there's no way to be 100% certain. We almost turned back, but Echo managed to convince the others. I decided to return since four would be a crowd sneaking in and out."
"But, shouldn't we go help them?" she asked with concern. "What if something goes wrong?"
"That's why we stay here." I knelt down and squeezed her shoulders. "We're backup in case that happens. But, I have faith in them. You should, too."
The young girl nodded, though her avertedly-downward eyes didn't convince me she was fully on board with the plan. Patting her shoulders, I smiled. "So, how have you two been killing time?"
I nearly sputtered a laugh when she rolled her eyes. "We are trying to play a game, but Wrecker has been taking too long on his turns."
"Hey, I've been thinking!" he defended himself.
"Sure, you big oaf." I shook my head in amusement. I then rose to my feet and gestured to the open ramp. "Let's go for a walk. What do you say?" Omega nodded and I ordered Wrecker to watch the ship and monitor comms while we were gone. "We'll be back soon. Contact me as soon as Hunter checks in."
"Will do." Wrecker leaned back in the copilot's seat, propping his giant feet on the console and tucking his hands behind his bald head.
Omega and I exited the Marauder and headed west down a straight path through the thick, vibrant forest. The clean air was fresh and quiet. Some fallen leaves gently crunched underneath our light feet. Strolling next to me with her hands folded behind her back, Omega gazed up and asked, "Do you think they are okay?"
"Are you really that worried about them?" I inquired back. She hesitated before nodding; that small frown seemed permanent. I pondered over what I could say to ease her worried mind without sounding redundant. She truly cared for everyone on the squad, in addition to feeling left out on the exciting portion of the mission. It was as if she wanted to be there not to just feel included, but to also be there to protect them. As much as I sympathized with her, being on my own for the majority of the war taught me you must trust whomever you're allied with, and always have faith they will fulfill their duty as long as you fulfill yours.
And that's exactly what I told Omega...
"I understand." she finally smiled.
"Good girl." I nodded. "Let's head back, Half-Pint."
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THIRD PERSON POV
Lazing about the Marauder almost bored Fern. She pondered on what could possibly be taking Hunter and the others so long to, at least, report in. She chose not to call in herself, for she had no idea what their status was -- she could possibly compromise their position. Nonetheless, it had been a couple hours now...
Wrecker was still relaxing, claiming he was 'charging up before he charged in'. Omega had began nervously pacing, clinging her Tooka doll to her chest. Fern found her waning onto her side of the spectrum. Regardless if something had gone wrong or not...perhaps their communications signal was being jammed? There were a number of possibilities she calculated that could explain their extended absence. Reasonable and not. However, Wrecker was fully convinced Hunter and the others had everything under control.
"You are an optimistic one, aren't you?" The female clone smirked at the muscular clone. "It seems like you've taken my title away. Omega, come on, stop pacing." She reached out and grasped the young girl's arm, pulling her onto her lap and wrapping her arms around her front. "You are making me nervous just watching you. How about this? Ask me something; we need to strike up a conversation to get our minds off of the situation."
"Um, okay..." Omega thought it over. She then swiveled ninety degrees in between Fern's legs and looked up at her. "When are you going to tell Hunter your feelings?"
"Just like that?" Fern huffed. "How do you even know about that? You're too young to know about that kind of stuff."
"Tech told me."
"He told me, too." Wrecker spilled, and she rolled her eyes, cursing, "Wired-Brain, I'll get you for this."
"Hunter has already admitted his." the young girl revealed.
Fern blinked, then failed to suppress her small grin. Deep down, this didn't surprise her... "Is that so?" she breathed.
"So?" Omega still awaited an answer. Wrecker was interested, as well.
"Okay, okay!" I held up my hands in surrender. "When this mission is over, and we're back on Ord Mantell, I'll tell him. Happy?"
"Are you?" she asked. Before I could reply, the ship's comm channel suddenly erupted.
"Wrecker, Omega, Fern, come in." Hunter's voice was a blessing.
"It's them!" She practically launched herself off Fern's lap. "We read you, Hunter!"
"We have the target, but we ran into some trouble."
"No wonder why it took so long for you to contact us." Fern quipped. "Where is your location? We are on our way!"
"On our way!" Wrecker laughed excitedly.
The two adult clones piloted the Marauder to the pinpoint coordinates the instant Tech transmitted them. They circled around the west side of the mountain where they spotted a wide tunnel in the rock wall. "There they are!" Wrecker pointed.
"We are on approach!" Omega signaled Hunter.
"We see you!" Suddenly, blaster fire exploded over the comms, advising the three on the ship to hasten their progress. Once they reached the mountain face, they rotated the ship parallel with the ingress open towards the squad, who were backed on a thin ledge on each side of the tunnel. Fern jumped from the pilot's seat, ordering Omega to hold the ship steady and Wrecker to assist her getting everyone on board. Once the ramp was lowered, she leaned out with one foot and one hand clinging to the ship. The high-altitude wind whipped around her head as her nearly-dangling body swayed.
"A little closer, Omega!" she shouted. The Marauder rocked as it inched towards the ledge. "Let's go, boys!" Stretching her free hand out, Tech, the first to jump, clasped their wrists together before he even landed on the ramp. Using all her strength, she yanked him up behind her so that he could take over flying. Next to her, Wrecker helped the regular clone the others rescued, though Fern didn't get a good look of him.
"Hunter! Echo!" she cried, desperate to get them onboard.
Abruptly, enemy ships soared in from above. Tech was forced to retract from the mountain to avoid getting destroyed. Wrecker was the only reason Fern didn't tumble off the ramp.
"Wrecker, get the tail gun!" Tech ordered as he steered the ship skyward. Hunter and Echo would have to hang on until they circle back around. There were too many enemy vessels firing at them, and it wasn't long until they lost their rear reflector shields. "We're losing power!" the pilot announced.
"Omega, get that hunk of metal over here!" Fern shouted, and the young girl caught on. "Gonky, we need you!" She attached the droid's power rod to the ship's access port, regenerating the power.
"It's working! Systems are back online!"
"Tech, we have to get to them! They won't be able to hold on for much longer!" Fern warned. She could hear the enemy's ships whirling out of control before crashing and exploding against the rock structures as Wrecker played his role sufficiently.
"I am aware!" Tech clicked the comm on. "We are coming back around! Be ready!"
Fern scurried back to the open ramp, her heart was racing from either desperation or adrenaline, and swung her whole body off like before. Her fingernails dug into the doorways' frame as her opposite hand stretched out to the two remaining clones on the mountain's ledge, shouting over the engine and wind, "Come on!" Echo jumped first. She caught him with little effort, hoisted him behind her where Omega steadied him, and viscerally slung her arm out to grab the last man.
Pow! Pow! Pow-Pow!
Blaster fire exploded into the mountain face above the tunnel. Tech was forced to veer the ship on its side with the ramp facing up. Fern nearly lost her balance from the rapid jolt, but her eyes remained on Hunter as he leapt from the crumbling ledge and descended towards her. Their wrists locked. Simultaneously, his foot slipped upon landing on the bottom step...
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FERN'S POV
In that moment...two fundamental truths zipped through my mind fluidly...The first was the inevitable release of one of my hands. I was either going to drop Hunter, or my fingers were going to break away from the doorframe. The second truth was...if even one of us are captured by the Empire, Crosshair will come...
And I refused to allow him to take Hunter alone. I was not losing him again.
Thus...the split second after our hands clasped onto each other's wrists and Hunter's foot slipped from under him, my hand that clung to the doorframe was ripped away and the two of us tumbled off the Marauder...
"HUNTER!!! FERN!!!" Omega screams echoed as the sergeant and I attempted to gain our bearing while we plummeted. The tops of the trees were a mere kilometer away. I was blatantly exposed to a tragic ending if I smacked into those or anything, for I was not wearing a scrap of armor unless one counted my gauntlets... Knowing this, Hunter, still fastened to my tiny wrist with an iron-grip, wrenched me against his chest plate. He locked one arm across my shoulder blades, the other he used to hold and protect my head underneath his chin. His feet wrapped around the back of my knees so that my legs wouldn't flap. My own arms enclosed around his torso under his arms. Just as we crashed into the forest below, our embrace viscerally tightened.
We were tossed back and forth, snapping every branch we came in contact with. Hunter was taking on the full, brunt force. Some of the twigs and spiked leaves scratched at every exposed area of my body. Eventually, the last few limbs broke our momentum and we pounded against the hard planet's surface on our sides. Upon impact, our self-enveloped cocoon broke, and I bounced in a tuck-and-roll away from him. While we both groaned with possible concussions and definite aching bruises, it was a clear indication we'd survive the harrowing fall.
My comm attached to my gauntlet was miraculously operational, for I heard Tech's desperate report. "We cannot take many more hits!" Simultaneously, an enemy transport shuttle landed a few meters away. Hunter and I managed to recover to our feet, knowing fully there was no escape for us...
"Get the ship out of here." Hunter insisted. "We'll find another way."
"Negative! The odds of escape are not in your favor!"
"Listen to him, Wired-Brain!" I cried into my comm, panting afterwards. "Do it! We'll be okay!"
"Go, Tech!" the sergeant's voice cracked. "That's an order!" I knew the intellectual clone would rather not follow, but he was a good man and soldier, and we watched from below as the Marauder switched gears and rocketed out of the planet's atmosphere to make a speedy jump to hyperspace.
"No!" Omega screamed. "We have to go back for them! Hunter, Fern, tell them to come back! ORDER them to come back!" Her voice strained my heart. Imperial soldiers from the shuttle were surrounding us with blasters pointed right our chests when I bravely nodded to Hunter. He, in return, clicked his device one last time.
"Sorry, Omega...I can't do that."
We raised our arms above our heads, and surrendered.