By nightfall Alona, Wrecker, and Hunter were spying on the troopers that had gathered outside of a transport. Alona propped herself up on her elbows between Hunter and Wrecker, the former using his binocs to get a closer look.
There was a clone captain, black and white armor. It reminded Alona of the very early days of the clone war where the armor was unpainted and everything felt so bland. It had reverted back to that at the rise of the Galactic Empire.
"We're gonna need to break through their ranks." Hunter muttered, lowering his binocs and looking across Alona, over at Wrecker. "How many explosives do you have?"
Wrecker shook his head. "Nothing that'll do any damage. Just a couple of smoke bombs." He replied sadly, like his lack of explosives was damaging to his soul. Wrecker liked to blow things up, it was a well-known fact.
Alona raised a suggestive eyebrow. "Jedi tricks?" She chirped.
Hunter shook his head. "Not now, but don't rule it out yet." He replied, glancing over at some old tanks from the war. "Ten o'clock."
Alona and Wrecker looked to their ten o'clock, seeing what the sergeant was getting at. Wrecker laughs evilly. "Old Separatist tanks. Now you're talking." The tall clone exclaims as quietly as he could.
Now that all three of them were (hopefully) on the same page, they snuck down the small terrain incline and ran over to the tanks. Alona had to take a deep breath as she got closer to the machinery, catching Hunter and Wrecker doing the same in her peripheral vision.
The aftereffects of the war were really getting to them now. Every blast from the tanks, every ambush attack, every brother or sister falling beside you and you having no choice but to keep going.
Alona hadn't even had the space to grieve for Satine or Fives until the following days after the war. It was like she had suddenly realized that the last three years weren't a horrible nightmare. That she had actually lived through that. It was all real.
Alona and Hunter climbed up to the hatch of the first tank while Wrecker went to check out the second. Pulling the circular door up, they are immediately met with a battle droid laying in the seat. It was shut down, something that was expected. The droids randomly shut off upon the order being given.
Hunter ripped the droid from the tank and then held his hand out for Alona, who gave him a toothy smile and took it, using it as support to climb inside of the machine. He held the flashlight up over her head.
There were about a million buttons inside, and for the first time Alona realized she had no idea how to turn one of these things on. She had only ever buried her lightsabers deep into the engines and then decapitated the droids.
But instead of admitting her lack of knowledge to Hunter, she closed her eyes and waved her hand across the control panel until an attractive ringing in her ears drew her hand to the most used button on the machine. She pressed it, but nothing happened.
Glancing up at Hunter, Alona saw his shoulders slump in defeat. She blew air out of her mouth and then started pressing a bunch of the other buttons in hopes that the tank would do something.
But it never did. They were completely disabled.
"No good." Wrecker sighs from his tank. "How about yours?"
Hunter held his hand out again for Alona, pulling her out of the tank. They stood on top of it, his hand resting on her upper back while he shook his head. "This one's down too." He replied, taking his hand off of Alona so she could jump down. He followed right behind her.
Wrecker walked over to the couple, shining his flashlight into the engine of the tank Alona had just attempted to start up. "There. That'll work."
Hunter let out an agitated sigh. "Forget it, Wrecker. That tank's not going anywhere. Alona just tried it."
Alona felt a negative pulse of energy off in the distance and her heart dropped to her stomach, pulling Hunter into her chest with merely a second to spare before a blaster bolt whips through the space he was just standing.
The trio crouched behind the tank, peeking the tops of their heads up to see how many troopers they were up against.
"Don't need it to. Grab the battery pack." Wrecker then said to Hunter while covering the couple, shooting stuns at the Imperial clone troopers.
Alona frowned in confusion, one reason because she had no idea what a battery pack looked like and secondly, "For what?" She asked.
"Leave it to me." Wrecker replied. Hunter pulled the battery pack out and then swapped places with his brother, attempting to stun the troopers. Alona felt useless, considering she wasn't a tank expert nor was she good enough to be qualified to carry a blaster.
Blaster fire came from everywhere as gunships flew in for air cover. Alona glanced over at Wrecker, who seemed to have picked up a little craft project. "You might want to pick up the pace, buddy." She urged, resisting the need to grab her lightsaber off of her belt and expose who she is to these troopers.
Wrecker had created some kind of weapon, to which he lifted it up and pointed it at the sky. "And we're in business!" He exclaimed happily, firing the weapon at one of the gunships. It explodes mid-air. Alona stared at him with wide eyes, not even acknowledging the bolt whipping past her face. Freaking space Einstein.
Wrecker cackles. "Boom! I make a pretty good tank!" He shouts, bumping Alona's shoulder, who bumps into Hunter like a domino. He powers the hand-made cannon up and points it at the Imperial clones. "Come to daddy!"
Alona and Hunter turn to each other in shock.
"Did he just-"
"...yeah."
"Get moving! I'll cover you guys!" Wrecker shouted, not shying away from the nickname he had given himself—and shouted for all of Serenno to hear.
So the trio began running through the woods, making their way to the Marauder while Wrecker continuously showed off his DIY cannon. He truly was a genius, especially when it came to explosives. He could tell you anything and everything about them.
Thirty minutes passed, and it seemed like they were never actually going to find their ship.
"The Marauder is just over that ridge." Hunter says confidently, stunning another trooper, allowing Alona to take the lead.
"You said that about the last one." Wrecker retorted. Even he was growing tired. This mission had gone on for too long.
"And the last two before that." Alona chimed with a finger in the air. She stared at it in shock. "I've been around Tech too much lately."
"This time I mean it." Hunter replied with an annoyed growl in his throat.
"You said that about the last one." Alona repeated Wrecker's words.
"Alona." Hunter growled warningly.
Alona pursed her lips. "Sorry Sarge."
Surprisingly, they were approaching the Marauder within the next five minutes. Alona let out a relieved sigh, choosing to ignore the blaster fire whipping past her head. So they were using deadly force, so what? Alona's been surrounded by deadly force her entire life. Nothing's new.
"Alona, get inside and start up the ship." Hunter orders, firing back at the troopers, but with his blaster still on stun. Wrecker was a little trigger happy with his cannon.
Alona gasped in shock. "You mean I have flying permission?" She exclaimed excitedly, her shoulders perking up. She couldn't ignore the aching in her spine, however. That rock from earlier was a pretty bad hit.
Hunter grunted at nearly getting hit. "I can't promise Tech won't strangle you, but yes. Please start up the ship." He replied, him and Wrecker trying to cover her, keep her hidden. She could be identifiable, and if the troopers knew a Jedi was around, then things would get much worse.
Even though Alona didn't technically consider herself to be a Jedi anymore. She was in the middle, as it had been stated many times before. She was no longer affiliated with the Force-Users that were meant to be peacekeepers, but spent years fighting a war for politics.
Alona eagerly climbed inside of the Marauder, taking a seat as the pilot and running through the takeoff protocol while Hunter and Wrecker boarded quickly. She pulled up on the steering wheel, feeling the jolt of the legs lifting off the ground.
Wrecker chuckled. "This old bird never looked so good." He exclaimed, climbing into the gunner's position.
Hunter sat in the copilot seat and started pressing buttons. "We're in position. Tech, send your coordinates." He said into the comm, removing his helmet. For the first time in many hours Alona sees his beautiful but sweaty face, his stubble that covered his jaw. She didn't think she could love him anymore, but just about every time she looks at him, helmet or no helmet, her heart swells more and more.
Anyways, Tech didn't answer Hunter. Alona's swooning expression is swapped for concern, mirroring Hunter's.
"Tech, do you copy?" Hunter asked again. No response.
Alona bit her lip, an idea coming to mind. She closes her eyes, continuing to fly the Marauder while she reaches out into the Force. She felt like she was traveling through a tunnel. Her mind connected to Tech, she felt a piercing, unbearable pain in her upper leg, which made her clench her jaw and bite back a hiss. "He's unconscious, but I know where they are."
Alona opened her eyes and picked up the Marauder's speed, flying over a mountain, approaching a cliff where blasterfire was seen easily in the darkness of the night.
"Unconscious? He's hurt?" Hunter asked quickly, hopping out of the copilot seat and moving to stand by the button for the ramp, ready to put it down for their quick extraction.
Alona bit her lip, not responding to him while she focused on maneuvering the Marauder so that Wrecker could take down the gunner ships.
The blaster fire on the ground stopped and Alona saw Tech emerge from the woods with a severe limp. An old man pulled Omega and Echo up off of the ledge of the cliff, then covered his eyes to shield them from the bright light of the Marauder.
Alona got the ship as close to the cliff as possible, hovering over the large drop. She holds the wheel steady while the missing members of their squad are pulled inside by Hunter.
"Uh, absolutely not." Tech said immediately upon laying eyes on Alona in the pilot seat.
"Shut up and sit down in a chair. Once we're in hyperspace I'm going to heal that broken femur." Alona retorted strictly, giving the mysterious old man an appreciative nod.
"How did you-"
"Magic." Alona replied mysteriously before pulling away from the cliff, ascending higher into the sky until they were engulfed by stars. She punched in the coordinates for Ord Mantell and then blasted into hyperspace, switching the controls to autopilot.
Tech was sitting in the seat at the navigation systems table, no doubt in serious pain. He almost had tears in his eyes. Alona made her way over to him, patting his shoulder before kneeling down at his side, gently placing her hand over his shattered femur.
Shutting her eyes, Alona transferred a portion of her life energy over to Tech, feeling herself grow tired but at the same time feeling Tech's bone regenerate and heal.
When she knew it was back to normal, Alona opened her eyes and blinked a couple times, only then realizing how much energy that took. "You must have been in a lot of pain." She muttered, standing up and reaching into the supplies box stocked under the control panel and pulling out a bottle of water for him.
Tech presses down on his healed femur, blinked in amazement. "The things you're able to do with the Force are...fascinating. Thank you, Alona."
Alona smiled, leaning into Hunter's side. "Don't mention it. Our team wouldn't survive without you. Plus I owed you one after what you did for me in the aftermath of Kamino."
Omega walked over with a gold, round object. She held it up to Alona and smiled. "Look inside of this, it's amazing!" She exclaimed.
Alona lifted the object to her eye and looked inside at the reflective pieces of glass, creating a beautiful array of colors. "A kaleidoscope. Beautiful, isn't it?" She smiled.
Hunter raised a brow curiously and leaned over to Alona, who held it up to his eye for him. He hummed, the corners of his mouth perking upwards.
"That is pretty cool."