"Incoming transmission request. Outer Rims...", the datapad repeated and you reluctantly got off the bed. Walking towards the desk was an ordeal of its own but you made it.
"Should I leave?", Kylo asked, still sitting on the medbay's bed.
You looked over to him, while typing a message to your mother: 'Give me 5'.
It was a fair question. Getting along with her had always been a problem, but on top of that you also had refreshed, horrible memories of her in your mind.
"Sir, she is really not fond of the First Order... I don't think it's in your best interest if she knows I am living in the Supreme Leader's...closet essentially.", you smiled but he just shrugged.
"She won't see me. I can intervene."
You nodded, "That's smart. I have been introduced to so much stuff I don't know what I am allowed to say to outsiders and what not."
"It's not about that. I don't want you to cool down any more."
"Oh."
Of course, you might accidentally summon up that void again. Now that did explain his concern far better.
"Alright then.", you mumbled and took a deep breath, "Best to jump into cold water directly..."
You pressed the button and your mother picked up immediately.
"There you are! I tried to get a hold of you for the past hour!"
"I was working.", you set the datapad in front of you so it wouldn't show Kylo.
"Right. You are on a ship."
How talented she was at expressing her disgust! Absolutely lovely.
"What do you need me for?", you scratched your head.
"You asked me to get some information for you! Not the other way round!"
You wrinkled your forehead before realizing what she meant, "Oh right. Sorry."
Shaking her head, she looked through some notes, "I called your aunt...she was asking a lot about you, you know? How you are doing...where you are working...do you know the kind of situation you have put me in? I have to lie about your workplace!"
"You could have just said that you don't know...you didn't until a few weeks ago. And you know why I don't call my aunt.", you leaned back and pulled the blankets over you a bit tighter as if it was an invisible wall that would somehow protect you from her judgement.
"Anyway, so I told her you were doing fine. Even though...looking at you, you don't seem okay at all. I'd tell you to go out more to get some colour but you are in space.", she stopped looking through her notes and leaned in to get a better look at you. You in turn just moved further back, "The lighting in your place is terrible... you look like you have hypothermia! What happened?"
"Workplace incident."
"Workplace incident?! Did you go out in space without a suit?!"
"Urs. What did she say?"
You didn't want to talk about it any further. You made it clear, you just didn't know if she'd understand.
"Apparently your great great grandmother was called 'Campbell', before she married. She was an immigrant from another planet by the name of..."
You raised your eyebrows, "Myrkr?"
"Yes! How did you know that? Is researching your ancestral history your new hobby now? If so I can tell you a lot about my side of the fam-"
"No."
She sighed, "True it would hardly be researching if you can read it in the archives. After all we are a family of well known-"
"Yes. Yes."
You looked over towards Kylo, trying to hide the pained expression on your face.
"Listen, sweetie..."
You visibly cringed at her using that horrible nickname.
"I know last time I was mean because I called the First Order..."
"The Doomsday Brigade, yes I recall that."
Kylo raised his eyebrows.
"Right...I thought I...it doesn't matter. It was your decision and I am sorry for judging it."
It was your turn to raise your eyebrows.
"No, I mean it...maybe you are more the type to... crawl through the mud and take care of blaster wounds and not one that actually puts her brain to use."
"You started off well."
Your voice was as dry and coarse as sand.
"I know, I am sorry. Combat medics are needed as well, every life is important. Even...a stormtrooper's...I guess."
Well, she was making improvements. Perhaps you'd actually say 'goodbye' for once and not just hang up.
"I just don't see why you chose the First Or-"
"Oh come on!"
"It could have been any private security contractor! Or the Resistance! Why did you have to choose those!"
"Seriously?"
"I have seen what they are doing on Weih! And what they have done on other worlds! They slaughtered innocents! Anyone who opposes them ends up dead! One of their commanders has wiped out villages for no reason!"
"The Resistance MURDERED my father. YOUR husband? Did you forget about that?!"
"They didn't! You have been telling this story for years! His death was an accident, something stupid that happened while he was hunting for Vornskr! The First Order just used it as a reason to kill innocents! They said they were conspiracists and they just slaughtered them! That was the-"
"Doc.", Kylo said and stood up.
"Did you seri-", she continued but Kylo just switched off the transmission.
You stared at where the projection of her face had been a second ago. He placed a hand on your shoulder and you leaned your head against his leg.
"Thank you, Sir.", you said quietly and he squeezed your shoulder lightly.
"Doomsday Brigade does not sound half bad."
You chuckled, "Yes, you should totally change it."TOOFAST
"What was that about your aunt?"
You moved your head away from his leg and reached for the data pad, "The Vornskr... they hunt using the Force. I knew they weren't from Chirna, they originate from a planet called Myrkr. A lot of what is written in the archives I already knew...nocturnal, hunt in packs...what I did not know was how they got to Chirna. So.."
You opened a few files on your data pad and projected them into the air so Kylo could get a better look at it.
"I started working through newspaper articles until I found a rough date when they arrived. That narrowed it down to roughly 150 years ago. And I mean Chirnian years."
You showed him the article that you had stumbled upon first. It was about a few miners that had been killed by some Vornskr.
"I found this one first. From that I just backtracked it to the first time they had mentioned them. It was pretty easy from then onwards. Just really tedious. If they had first appeared on Chirna around that time...someone must have brought them onto the planet, right?"
You didn't want for an answer and scrolled through a lot more newspaper articles until you had found what you were searching for.
"This!"
Kylo moved closer to read the headline.
"Fatal Shuttle crash in the western mountains?"
"Yes! I had always assumed someone had let them lose, but it was accidental. The ship was carrying them, crashing it and only leaving very few survivors. Under them was someone by the name of 'Campbell'. And I know it was he who brought them because..."
This time you pulled up various transport routes, together with their respective shipping entries.
"There weren't any ships arriving from Myrkr, BUT there was this small thing that I found."
You increased the size of one of the entries.
"'J.Campbell' Gender: male, date of birth...boring, boring, boring....there! 'Homeworld: Myrkr.' That! Nooow I also found what he registered as his cargo."
More swiping, more scrolling down...
"Here: Live animal shipment, Species unknown...there is more.", you turned towards Kylo, "Thing is the description of them fits! Apparently he brought eight with him. Why I don't know."
Kylo didn't say anything, he just stared at the virtual kilometers of texts floating in the air in front of him.
"Impressive.", he eventually said. You felt your cheeks get warm and quickly looked away so he wouldn't see it.
"That's why I called my mother, who in turn called my aunt."
"So you are originally from Myrkr."
"Atleast I do have some ancestors from there. Apparently there are creatures that can create Force bubbles as a counter method to the Vornskr...it does somewhat explain it. I would have been surprised if my father and his father just randomly developed that mutation, but if my whole family has been...hunted for generations, I guess it does make more sense. Or atleast, makes it far more likely."
He made his typical 'mhhh' sound and leaned forward, looking for the creature you had just mentioned.
He pulled up a picture and pointed at it.
"So essentially you are part lizard."
"No, just part snake, from my mother's side."
He looked down on you, amused, "I see you are getting better already."
You chuckled and closed the articles again.
"Do you mind me going to sleep, Sir?"
He shook his head, "No. On the contrary.", he mustered you.
"I won't die in my sleep. I promise."
He didn't say anything, just continued staring at you.
"I'll sleep with these blankets, I'll be warm."
Still no reaction.
"Alright, I'll sleep in the med bay and hook an ECG up to myself."
He finally nodded.
You smiled and hopped onto the bed in the middle of the room, attaching the heart rate monitor.
"Sleep well!", you said as you laid down.
"Sleep well.", he left the med bay and you closed your eyes.
Within a few minutes you drifted off into a long, dreamless sleep.
You looked...colourless. As if someone had applied a black and white filter to your face and set the opacity to 50%. It did not look normal. However, you did feel great, so that was a bonus? Mild Hypothermia didn't leave any lasting damage, as far as you were aware and a good night's sleep usually helped.
You got dressed in some fresh tunics and headed down to your workplace. The moment Rosie spotted you she pulled you aside.
"You look horrible! What did you do?", she kept her voice down and you were quite thankful for it.
"One of the prisoners lashed out...I drugged myself instead of him."
It was still the best possible answer you could give to anyone. It did have some benefits as well, if Rosie or anyone else would hear it they'd all just know of some 'mysterious substance'.
"I am glad you are fine...or are you? Maybe you should go back and take the day off..."
"No, thanks, Rosie I honestly feel great. Thank you for asking."
"I...I didn't know how to react, yesterday.", she pulled you down so you could hear her better, "Am I in trouble? I did not even address him properly!"
"It's fine. No worries."
She nodded and let you go.
"Dr. Escyle changed your schedule, you know that?"
"I thought so, but I have not taken a look at it yet."
She showed it to you on her data pad. It was fair and very flexible.
"Looks good. Where is he?"
She pointed you in the direction and you went over to him, pulling him aside at the next chance you got.
"I had to work late yesterday, Rosie might have told you."
"She did.", he was a bit confused at you actually wanting to talk to him.
"The new schedule is far better.", you pulled yourself together as much as you could. No way back now. You had to do it. There you go!
"Thank you."
Out it was. The deed had been done. There was no turning back.
He seemed about as surprised as you had been for saying it, "...Yes..."
"Yes.", you replied and looked into another direction.
Both of you nodded and awkwardly parted ways. Rosie gave you a thumbs up. It could not have gone any better...
The rest of your day went by uneventful. There were a few doctors you got to know better because you were constantly switching stations. Some of them you had seen around Dr. Escyle, they were as distant as he was, but neither of them as impolite. It was still a step into a better direction.
Dr. Ramik was incredibly entertaining to be around, but just as exhausting. While she did make jokes about nearly everything, a trait you really appreciated in others she also wanted to know more about you. And THAT was something you did not appreciate in anyone! At first she tried to mask her intent by casually asking questions but after you blocked every single one she changed to asking outright.
You didn't really know what was worse. If she hid it you could atleast pretend you hadn't understood her and if she asked outright you could always reply with your usual 'confidential'. That got boring and annoying really fast though, so you ended up telling her the most unbelievable stories.
So far you had shot down a Resistance X-Wing with a blaster, piloted an AT-AT out of some mountainous terrain and single handedly defeated two wampas in hand to hand combat on a desert planet.
Funnily enough they did believe some of your stories, mainly because you somehow managed to tell them with a straight face. With just enough detail that they were believable without turning into an obvious lie. Even Rosie stood there with her mouth agape.
They eventually figured it out though and cursed you for telling them lies to cover up your 'boring life'. You in turn insulted them back saying that their lives must be even MORE boring because the only thing they seemed to be interested was yours.
Then your shift ended and you suddenly found yourself in a pretty uncomfortable spot because Dr. Ramik asked you directly where you were going to have dinner. And with whom. You managed to escape her pesky questioning by using your excellent 'vanishing into thin air' skills.
Dinner with Kylo went as it always did. You told him what was going on in the medical wing and he mostly listened. Eventually neither of you talked and enjoyed the comfortable silence between you two.
"We won't have training tonight. Tomorrow it'll be Ap'lek instead of me."
"Alright.", you said and pushed the rest of your food over towards him, "Why not you, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I'll be leaving for a few days. The fight on Weih is not going as expected."
You didn't reply. For the past few weeks...was it two months by now? For sure more than one and a half...you had lost track of time. Anyway for the past weeks you had been having dinner with him, training under him. Every evening at the same time, it was kind of like a ritual. A bit of steadiness in your otherwise rather chaotic work-life. You really did not want to miss it.
Not just that, you also did not want to miss him. He was by far the greatest company you had for a while. He did not talk much but especially the last two days had really shown how much he cared for you. You didn't want to miss that.
He made you feel safe and appreciated. Unlike a certain family member he actually made you believe you were worth something. That there was a reason for you to be here. Even if it should only be because you were a 'weapon' to him. What exactly you were did not matter, whether or not you were just a tool or company he enjoyed... in the end he appreciated you. Needed you.
"You don't want me to leave.", he noted, not looking up from his food.
"No.", you crossed your arms and leaned back, "No, I don't want you to leave."
He didn't say anything, just looked up briefly before continuing to eat his food. You didn't even have to ask if you could join him. It was clear that he didn't want you to. Why exactly you didn't understand but you also did not want to press the matter any further.
The rest of your dinner was quiet, even though the silence was not really comfortable like it had been before.
"When are you leaving?", you asked before you went into your own room.
"About now."
You felt a knot in your stomach, but couldn't really pinpoint why.
"Alright.", you said quietly and picked up his helmet from the table, walking over towards him, "Don't die."
You stood on your tiptoes to put it on.
"There you go, Sir. You are all ready now.", you secured it properly.
He nodded a silent thanks, you nodded back and he left. You still stood in the middle of his room for a while, looking at the doors that had closed behind him, before going to bed.
The next few days were...odd. You caught yourself thinking about Kylo far too often for your own taste. He was your superior, why were you asking yourself so many questions about him?
Work went by fine. The new schedule really made things easier for you and while you and Escyle were in no way getting any more friendlier with each other atleast you didn't openly fight anymore. His 'friends' (now referred to as the rats because of their habit of 'ratting' you out whenever something bad happened) however did get a bit nicer towards you, but you didn't know why.
In general, the worst thing about work were all the questions getting asked left and right. You didn't seem to get a break. Even the rats couldn't let go.
It was partially what made you look forward to training every day. Atleast then you wouldn't have to watch every word. Until you realized that Ap'lek was going to try to get into your head. From then onwards you had to watch every thought...which was far worse. You just resorted to thinking about certain patients and whatever gross thing had happened to them in the hopes of keeping Ap'lek out.
He complained quite a few times that the hardest part was finding you because you were so 'small' to quote him. He kept you company for a bit longer after training each day and brought food every time. Apparently Kylo had told him to bring some because he didn't trust you to take care of yourself. You didn't want to admit it either, but you probably would have forgotten to eat dinner if it wasn't for Ap'lek.
Your sniping training with Kuruk was the same as always. Silence for 99% of the time apart from when he was correcting you or giving you tips. Everytime he actually did speak you got startled because you had forgotten he was even next to you. Once or twice the same thing happened to him though.
Both of them gave you daily updates on what happened on Weih. Kylo wasn't on the planet most of the time, he was having meetings over meetings with various weapons contractors, colonels and officers. Bureaucracy. Horrible.
It made you feel better because he wasn't actually fighting but all of those discussions delayed his arrival.
After a week of him not being there the situation in the medical wing got worse. The amount of injured officers increased and from what you could hear during lunch it was even worse for all the stormtroopers. It meant all hands-on-deck and extra work hours and shifts.
"Is MD-2442 here?", you could hear Dr. Escyle ask Rosie from outside the room.
You stripped off your gloves, poking your head outside the door.
"Present."
"They need you on Weih. You are supposed to leave with the next shuttle, you have half an hour."
He hadn't even finished the sentence as you were already sprinting outside towards your flat to get your armour.
Finally. Some proper work again. Not just constantly walking around to different patients and asking them whether or not their food had been heated the way they liked it. That was obviously not what you had been doing all the time. It was mostly surgeries but you had enough of those right now.
You wanted to finally get back out there, feel the adrenaline in your veins! Anything to get out of these boring hospital gowns into some proper armour and to finally do some actual work!
You took a look in the mirror before you put on your helmet and nodded. Finally.